Excess baggage
by SupernaturallyConfused
Summary: Dean and Sam are on their way to from hunt on a long winding road on a cold winter's night. They pick up a harmless looking hitchhiker.But under her warm and often dry humour there lies a dark secret. I don't own supernatural or its character. Any similarities between real or actual events or people is purely coincidental and are in no way intended to offend.
1. Chapter 1

**You know when you're travelling to somewhere and you are listening to songs and then start making your own music video with your own star-cast well this story started exactly like that and also i was really encouraged a lot by my friend Aggiedoll. This would not have been here without her. So guys, this is my first ever fanfic and your encouragement is most needed here in order for me to continue. So let me know if you like or hate (but gently) ;)**

**Chapter 1**

This was a bad idea from the outset…seriously, me on a road trip. Why had I moved away from the ivory towers of my university? I loved staying there studying in the libraries, having intellectual debates in cafes and bars across the campus, roaming the lawns and thinking of the next big idea that will change people's lives.

I guess that was one of the reasons I left the university this and also Michael. I still remember the day I met him. I was rushing for a lecture when I passed him. He was there standing in the middle of the corridor with rucksack and khaki shorts and I thought to myself 'wow, they're allowing tourist to visit even before the vacations begin'. I did not think of anything about him until later in the day we were asked to come to main hall for a special assembly and guess who I see, the tourist who turned out to be a professor. He spoke of his time in Africa where according to him all our so called amazing 'solutions' had failed miserably. He said we had locked ourselves here in our plush warm classrooms and libraries and forgotten what the real world looked like.

There was that day and there was tonight. Standing in the middle of the night on a lonely stretch of a road with a rucksack on my back hoping and getting worried at the same time. I was hoping that a car would stop and give me a lift to the next town. I was getting worried that the next car that stopped would have a psychopath or a whole bunch of them. Yes, I know I'm a paranoid kind. I started playing songs on my phone and decided to concentrate on it. The strangest thing by George Michael came on, I like this song cause it had one of those techno club tunes which always made me lose myself usually but today all I could hear was the 'strangest thing'. This was not the thing the words you intended to hear on a lonely stretch of a road.

I switched to the next song was 'U.S History' by flipsyde, a hip-hop song with all talking about the oppression of the white man. This really got me thinking and manage to get my mind off my current situation. Suddenly, I heard a roar of an engine in the distance I put off my headphones to listen more closely. Then I saw a car coming right towards me. As it came closer, I figured it was a black car or maybe, I did not know. But I was relieved to see it. So I stretched my thumb out and I was feeling a little woozy due to the cold. So as the car came closer I saw that it was one of the old school cars like a pontiac or something, wait no this was something else…what was it…oh I hated these moments…Impala. It was an Impala. Wow I had not seen a lot of those around at least not in the cities.

So the car stops ahead of me, I go running to the car. The window rolls down, "hi there," I say with my best smile. "Hey" says the guy who is sitting next to the driver. He has these chiseled features, a jaw-line to die for, small eyes and the most electric smile ever with dimples.

"You lost here?"

"Kind of "I said, "Could you give me a lift till the next town? I will really appreciate it".

I try to peek and see who the driver was but all I could figure it was a guy as well. In my mind, I'm thinking 'why are u doing this to yourself? What if they are a bunch of psychopaths, how many times are we going to endanger ourselves and for what purpose just so that we can keep moving' I hated my inner voice and I was assuming the feelings were mutual. The guys might also think i'm a psychopath as well.

The guy said, "yeah sure, why not.." with another sweet smile.

So I tried to weigh my options in my head, if I go with this seemingly nice guy and his friend, I might end up dead if they were actually a bunch of psychopaths. On the other hand, I could just say no to them and hope for another car to show up and possibly die until then because of the cold. I had to keep in mind the fact as well this car had come here after walking for like 2 miles or more. So the choices with me was an imminent death by the side of the road due to hunger, fatigue and cold or possible death by the hands of 2 guys I just met.

I chose life and said "thanks" and got in. As the car started again, everything started moving around me and slowly darkness started creeping over my eyes. I could hear in the distance the guy asking me something faintly in the background.

_I open my eyes; all I can see is darkness. My back feels cold as though I am lying on back on metal slab or something. As my eyes get adjusted to the dark I realize that there next to me there are many surgical tools. And then all of sudden the light above me flicks on and there is nothing but brightness. I look around to see that I'm in an operation theatre. At the end of the room I see a half glass paneled door. There is nothing but darkness outside that door but I soon realize that there is someone out there. Then I hear the heavy footsteps coming closer and then I can see a dark figure outside the door and then I hear an all too familiar hissing sound. I know who it is…I tell myself to wake up…no …no…no. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I open my eyes to see a pair of green eyes looking at me and two strong arms holding me down, "its okay", he yells. Its daylight and I seem to be in a motel room. "Sammy" yells green eyes. "Who are u guys?" I ask trying to get up. "I'm Dean and that's Sam." The guy with the great smile or Sam enters with coffee and 2 packets. Wow, this guy is huge and tall. Must be sports jock or something, I say to myself. Dean releases me from his grip and I try to get up. Sam sprints towards me "don't get up!" As I sit straight, I realize why he said that, "I'm Yamini" and fall back on the pillow.

"She needs to eat" says Sam. "Yeah I need to eat. I'm starving" I say realizing the hollow pit in my stomach. Dean catches me by the arm and takes me to the table. Once my vision balances, my nose is greeted with a lovely smell of "freshly made doughnuts!" I say. "Wow, that's impressive" says Sam.

After demolishing 2 of the 5 doughnuts under a minute, I feel much better. "Wow u were not kidding when u said u were hungry" says Dean smiling and exchanging looks with Sam. "Well I never joke about food" I say, going a little red in the face.

"Hi, I'm Sam and this is Dean Winchester" says Sam and extends his hand. "Hi I'm Yamini Iyer. So I'm assuming you two are brothers". I say wiping my sugar encrusted hands on the sides of my pants and then shaking Sam's big hands. I extend my hand towards Dean but he's not in the mood. Sam looks at his brother crossly. And I wonder 'what crawled up his ass and died. Maybe he's a racist. Wow stop thinking shit'.

"So what were u doing there in middle of the night? I mean were u lost or something" Sam asked with genuine curiosity.

"Well I'm a university student on a road trip. This is my last stretch home. I got in van with other group of travellers in the last city. But the people I was traveling with were a little too stoned for my taste. I had a...difference of opinion with them. They asked me to get out and there I was."

"You seem to be one heck of traveler" says Dean with dry smile.

I ignore Dean's comment and ask Sam "What happened to me?"

"Well as soon as u got in the car. You kind of passed out. We got a little worried so I touched your forehead and realized you were burning up. I think you caught a bad chill or something. There was doctor here and she told it was just a touch of cold. So she gave u an injection for the fever to come down and told us to make sure you slept enough."

"Wow, thanks...I guess I owe u guys" I said rising up from the table. My vision was moving again, rapidly. I sat down again. "I guess I'm gonna be stuck with u guys for little while more." I said going towards the bed.

I couldn't sleep due to the weird dreams. I don't remember when these had started. I guess it was after Yash's death. I remember going to see him in the hospital, entering the room and seeing him jumping off from the window. I ran towards him only to see his brains splatter on the hospital parking lot. 'Whoa...I thought we were going to block those images. Yeah working on that...u cannot expect me to block everything...it made us who we are...ok this conversation was getting to awkward to have..'

I got up and saw green eyed monster (yeah I didn't really like the guy) was on the sofa watching T.V.

He was watching Dr Sexy. Really could this be true or was this a part of the nightmare.

"Wow, when is Mills going to get it that Dr Sexy isn't into her...and just move on." I said hoping for a defensive statement trying to save his manhood.

But instead he replied "how can u say that, they just made out on Marlon and Carla's wedding? That has to mean something." Whoa, he was serious sexy M.D fan.

So finally we had something in common. He asked me with a smile on his face (which was really kind of cute. Maybe that's what made them brothers) "so u like Dr sexy or..."

"Oh no I like Dr ..."

"Dr Kumar" he said.

"Nooo...Dr Philip Stevens the Scottish guy You know not all Indians like Indian character." I said frowning.

Two hours passed and we were watching Dr Sexy M.D marathon. It was a time well spent.

Finally the key turned in the door and Sam came walked in with 2 full bags. "Here is the man of the hour!" said Dean getting up.

Sam looked at us with one raised eyebrow trying to take in the change. "Don't worry he's isn't holding a gun to me. We were just watching the marathon." I said.

As the day passed I came to know Sam was a guy who could speak my language of computers, saving the planet, world politics and other essential geek topics. While Dean kept making comments about Sammy being gay and a nerd. But when conversation moved to food & movies and TV. Dean and me had more things in common. Sam and me introduced Dean to YouTube where he could watch trailers, music videos and some other funny videos. Then I suggested Lonely Island song and Sam was rolling with laughter after watching "I just had sex". Dean had a confused look on his face.

I looked at him and said "What... it's funny".

"Yeah on planet nerd. And frankly I cannot get what's the big deal about getting laid. Oh but wait I can see how u two get it."

He said picking up his leather jacket. "I'm going to the real world and have some adult people fun. You Nerds have fun."

"We will grandpa." Dean left with a bang.

Me and Sam watched some more videos. Then had dinner which wasn't anything interesting as Sam insisted that I should not have anything too oily or spicy. We settled for watching TV again.

"So what are u studying in college?" Sam asked.

"Public policy, What about u? Have u been to college?"

"Yeah, I studied a year of law at Stanford" said Sam casually.

"Whoa! What... that's heavy duty stuff" I said as I watched him incredulously.

"Well, what happened" I said as I realized he wasn't saying anything after that.

"Well life happened after that" he said smiling darkly.

"What about u? Why move away from the ivory towers" he asked.

"That's a story for some other time. Cos now I need to see psych."

"Oh come on, that's such a douchey show" said Sam.

"Hey don't diss the show without even watching it."

"Well it's a stupid show since no one can just look at people and tell if they have committed murder or not."

Our conversation was interrupted by Dean when he came in.

I said to Sam "as a great detective once said, precisely my dear Watson. Observe that Mr Winchester here has been to a bar" I said sniffing him. "Also notice that there's a red mark here on neck and his lips seem a little swollen to you." Dean was staring at both me and Sam. "I can infer from this and the fact that he mentioned to us he was going to have some adult 'fun' that he had an encounter with a lady."

"That's elementary stuff" said Sam.

"Oh really, if I tell u that this lady is a blonde and works at the pink panda club, possibly as a stripper." Sam and Dean were both astounded.

"I take that back, it indeed seems science."

I should have stopped at that but nooo... I was a complete prude when it came to showing off my detective skills. "Oh my God is that a gun?! And wait that's blood on your jacket and mud on your shoes"... after that there's was darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_There I was in middle of a hospital corridor which looked familiar for some reason. One of the doors was open with light filtering through its door in an otherwise dark corridor. I reach the door and see my brother standing on the window sill "don't let him get you Yamini". "Yash who…just get down from there, whatever it is we can pull through this together." "I can't, this is my only way out. He's here to get me. See he's right there near the table. You're not going to get me…aaaahhh" "where..." I ask and he jumps. I look at the spot where he's pointing to. There is just a plain wall but there is a dark spot there. I go closer to have a look at it. The spot is actually dripping some dark viscous liquid. Slowly it grows into a stream. I touch the liquid and smell which is now formed into a pool on the ground. I fall back after smelling it. It smells like blood. I see that the pool of blood starts boiling. I can hear the hissing sound from it. This time it speaks "itsss time." I close my eyes tightly._

I open my eyes to see I'm on the leather back seat of the impala. I'm perspiring like hell and hear

"It was stupid of you Sam. Why would do that?" Dean is yelling.

When I open my eyes I am in the car and it was moving. "What happened?" I ask.

"Jesus! Don't do that!"Dean yells.

"Are u alright?" Sam asks.

"Yeah I guess but my shoulder hurts and I don't remember last night. What happened? why is Dean PMSing again?" Sam smiles at that and Dean just glares at through the rear view mirror.

"Well..." Sam starts.

"You passed out on us again last night. You...kinda fell backwards and hit the corner of the coffee table on your shoulder. We got the friendly doctor in again. She said u need a change of fresh air. Hence we left the motel for something better. Isn't that right Sammy?" Dean said exchanging a look with his brother. "Yeah...that's what happened?" Sam chimed in.

"Oh okay" I said.

"Can we please listen to something that wasn't cool in last century and something preferably with happy thoughts?" I said.

"Dean ... please don't say it" Sam pleaded.

"What... Sammy? She needs to know the rule. Yaminee, driver picks the music and shotgun (and the rest as well) shuts their cake hole. Any questions?"

I literally shut my cake hole and fetched my phone and started listening to the music on my phone. 'I'm yours' by Jason Mraz came on and it was my feel good song. It also went well the scenery outside. It was bright sunny day and brought back memories of my time in Africa where Michael would sing with a ukulele in his hands. It was a magical time where I felt I was doing the right thing getting away from it all. Saving the world, going to the field, working on the frontlines and how could I forget, Michael was there with me. But all good things have to come to an end I guess.

Oh God, this song really put me in great frame of mind.

After the song ended I realized that Dean was looking at me and saying something to me. I pulled my earphones and said "what?"

"What are you listening to there? Seems to be making you really happy there..." he asked.

"How does it matter to you?" I said bitterly.

"Oh come on, it's rude u know...for a lady to talk..."

"What Dean really wants to say is that we why don't you share your music with us and lets listen to it together...isn't it, Dean?" Sam interjected looking at Dean.

Dean reluctantly said "yeah, I guess."

"Oh, okay then" I said feeling happy.

"Yeah, give it here. I'll put it on" Sam offered.

So with this the song started, with heavy beats and I was trying to figure out which one was it. The lyrics came on "_shady aftermath_, _there she goes shaking that ass on the floor_." Oh God, no,no,no I thought with that I lunged forward to change the song.

Dean caught my hand and said "oh no this is good stuff, gives a glimpse into your 'refined' taste" he said giving me an evil grin.

I went red in my face, and asked Sam to please change the song "have mercy, please!" I said pleadingly.

Sam changed the song and the sweet voice of Christina Aguilera and Ricky Martin filtered through. "_Nobody wants to be lonely_,really. That's just ...bad" said Sam.

"What I don't get is, Sammy, how come you know the song?" said Dean, winking at me.

"You know what this is fun. Let's listen some more." Dean seemed happy since he had found an amazing to torture both me and Sam.

The next song was "_laff at them_" by Timbaland, Jay-Z and JT. "This is ain't bad" he said. He took his glasses out and was bobbing his head and mimicking being a rapper. I was offended and laughing at the same time.

This continued till we reached a beautiful quaint beach town of Rosewood. The town had relaxed air about itself and it seemed a little big for a town. It had nice little cafes, bookshops, music shops and quite a few lovely hotels and the most important the magical sound of the waves crashing on the seashore.

Me and Sam were looking around this place and Dean was busy going through my playlist. "Wow, look at all these pretty cafes, just like they have in Europe."I said.

"Yeah, all euro trash. Where is a diner?" said Dean.

"Why don't we go to one of these cafes places instead?" Sam suggested "look that one even has free WiFi."

"Yeah, I'm really hungry too." I said.

"What's wrong with u guys…what are we gonna eat there? Granola bars." dean said.

"Something healthy rather than greasy burgers" said Sam.

"Okay boys, hey Dean these guys have burgers as well and come on I'm really hungry and I have to use the loo as well" I said heading towards the cafe.

"Whoa, TMI dude" dean said raising his hands. I threw him my patented death glare. When I came back and said "that was a long overdue meeting."

"Frankly, I'm impressed u held on that long" Sam said.

"Really guys, can we not talk about her...let's just figure out what to eat."

"Dean you have to go and place the order here." Sam said.

"What!? What kinda douchey system is this?" He asked getting up.

"Well what are u gonna do about it. I'll have the breakfast special sandwich and a cappuccino."

"Cappuccino really and Samantha… let me guess salad."

He left us with a Bitch face. "Dean is so pissed" Sam said half smiling.

"What's new in that, this way he's at least being useful" I said.

"So what's the deal with you Yamini, why would a good university student wanna go out on a road trip by herself?" I looked at him long and hard. I thought should do what I usually did. Make a joke about it and laugh it off. Or do I trust him and tell him what had happened and what was happening. Something in his eyes, the look of genuine concern that did make me trusts him.

"Well I was out of country for the past year or so. I was in Africa working with Oxfam."

"Wow that's awesome..." Sam said incredulously.

"Well my incentives weren't exactly noble. I went because I had a massive crush on one of professors and I thought wow and what better way to be with someone you like. I thought it was a brilliant plan, fate had different plans and he ended up liking my friend who also felt the same way about him. I was left on the sidelines like the losers who stand and clap while the couple in love share a kiss...blech...hated such movies anyways. Well that's that, so What's your tale of woe? I say woe cause you are having road trip with grumpy grumperson there" I said as we saw Dean make faces while the man in front decided what get wanted.

"He's all I have got...he's always been there when I needed him...plus he ain't that bad."Sam said looking in Dean's direction.

"Wow, that's intense."I said watching him.

"Dean is lucky to have a brother who thinks so highly of him." I said. We saw Dean coming over and I realized my hands were holding Sam's. I quickly entangled them.

"Okay what did I miss here? An Oprah moment or something." said dean looking at us.

"No actually we were discussing our child-birth stories" I said.

Dean was quite for a moment, "Dean she is kidding" said Sam.

"Are you sure?" he said looking at me with a devilish grin.

"Okay, this place blows. Seriously there is so much happiness and sunshine here that I will shoot rainbows from my ass very soon...well... Well every dark cloud has a sliver lining"

Sam and I looked at him from our laptop and phone to see the sudden change in rant "the coffee girl is totally checking me out" said Dean looking at the blonde near the coffee machine.

"Oooh Sam the Asian chick is totally checking you out. Oh my God did she just wink at you...wow"

Well both the guys seemed quite pleased with themselves. Our order was served by a really good looking waiter who had grey eyes brown hair and had dimples when he smiled which he did looking at me.

"Hey buddy we did not order this muffin."

"Oh sir it's the complimentary from the management for the lovely lady" he said blushing at me.

"Oh man this is sweet, and I guess I'm clearly the player here. Oh God this muffin is soo good."

Dean and Sam were now giving me very well known patented Winchester Bitch faces. It was a nice enough lunch.

Dean found us a motel. We settled in our respective rooms just then I heard a commotion outside. I came out when a guy pinned me to a wall saying

"ma'am what are u doing here?"  
"I'm staying here with a couple of friends" I said looking at him with shock and horror.

"I'm with the FBI, this is a stakeout. We would request you and your friends to vacate this place soon. It won't be safe anymore." I just nodded and went to the boys' room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

I came in and locked the door."Dean..."I stopped in my steps to see Sam step out of the shower. I just stood there dumbfounded. Never had I seen such a magnificent sight. I never thought he was hiding all that under those long sleeved shirts and jackets. His well sculpted six packs were dripping with water and the towel that was holding his dignity did nothing to hide his long legs. He seemed like the embodiment of sex on legs. I must have wasted a lot of time checking him out.

"Uh...Yamini...what are u doing here?"Sam asked looking at me and looking at me confused.

"Ahem..." damnit! my throat went dry. My mind was blank. "Ah..." 'oh! God say something'. "Wow.." 'what!? The hell'…

"There's police outside. We need to vacate the place. I'll find Dean." I left the room. 'Wow that was simply brilliant you know. We have reached a new low in our interactions with attractive members of the opposite sex.' Luckily I saw Dean, the officer who I spoke to was talking to him as well. I took my stuff and headed towards the impala.

"Did u tell Sam about this!?" Dean asked.

I just nodded and went to sit inside.

Sometime later Sam had joined us and we were on our way. After we were a fair distance away-

"That was weird. Drug bust really" Sam said

"Not really. If watch 'Breaking Bad' your entire shady deals happen in such places" I said.

"Right, cause everything they show on t.v. is so accurate" Dean said with a 'smidgen' of sarcasm.

"Well I don't know about the accuracy, but most of time art does reflect real life".

Sam just looked at me and smiled. I almost melted in my seat.

"Well we still don't have a place to stay."

"Those troubles might be over. Look there's a B&B close by" I said looking at my maps.

"What a B&B...no way?"

"Oh come on Dean. Why not? cause you have an allergy to good living. The name is fancy too Delaware mansion."

"Yeah it does. It is hosting a Latin American night as well this Friday." Sam said trying to control his laughter.

"Please guys please..." I said batting my eyelashes. And voila it worked...I was surprised that it did. Well what do u know I was a lady who could change man's mind with just batting my eyelashes. Yeah, right or maybe they were tired or something.

Dean pulled in to the gate which announced the name of the B&B. It had this long winding road up the small hill around the second turn is where we saw the actual building of the hotel. It was big and had a fountain near the entry. Though the estate was big but the upkeep wasn't what one would expect of such a place. But the entrance and the garden in front were well kept.

We entered inside the hotel lobby which was all wood, "very Victorian" I remarked looking around.

"Hi there, I was hoping you guys have like three or two rooms for us." The red hair lady whose name was Lydia smiled at us smiled at Dean

"Yes of course, would a double and single room?"

"I would like the room with the big gallery."I said butting in.

"But that's a double room" said Lydia getting a little too nervous.

"Great then we will take both double rooms and here's my card. I'll be paying for both."

Dean looked at me incredulously.

"You don't need to do that"

"Oh please Dean, please take this as a token of my gratitude."

Lydia gave us the keys and butler showed us to our room.

"Wow there's a lift till the third floor, that's living it" said Sam

"Your rooms are next to each other. The lady's room has a view to die for. It has a splendid view of the sea which by the way isn't too far from here. Enjoy your stay" she said snapping her fingers for the butler.

"Wow, we have to go the beach"

"What for? I think that we should leave in a day or two"

"Let's just enjoy the place while we are here Dean. Yes we should go to the beach"

"So you guys wanna eat here or try something in town?"

"Let's try the town. We can try the breakfast here tomorrow." Dean said.

"Okay, see u guys at 7"

I entered my room and loved it instantly. There was a big window opposite the door that opened into the gallery which did show the view of the sea. And the beds were so soft and comfortable. I checked my phone and saw 1 missed call. It was from my aunt Anita. I messaged her saying that I was fine and would see them soon. Anita was my dad's sister, me and my brother Yash were transferred to her and husband after my mum decided to follow my dad in heaven. Mum had driven her car straight off the bridge into the river. I was in a lecture then when the call came. Anita was there along with her husband Vijay. He came over and I knew what had happened? My first thought was how could break this news to Yash. Just then I saw him walking through the doors. Wow they had told him as well. Why would they do this? I looked at them and they look astonished. Yash held me and said "Yamini, mom has been in accident. The car..." and he had collapsed.

The cops came over to give me grisly details and asked me whether my mum was in depression. I said no and got on to the annoying procedure of a preparing for a funeral. My aunt wanted my mother to be burned since she married a Hindu. I buried her just like she wanted. I went through all the rituals and I came home checked on Yash who was in no position to come to the funeral he was paler and thinner than I last remembered. I went inside the bathroom started the shower and sat down and started crying. Today I was truly alone; I had an elder brother who needed my care and support. I couldn't cry in front of him. I had an extended family, my father's side but they had never approved of mum since she was white. I had to make decisions now of living with the very people who I despised. I had no options, my parents had deserted me. Deserted, yes deserted me and Yash. I was angry that made me cry even more. I came out went over to Yash to see if he was okay. He held my hand and said "come here". I lay next to him and he held me close and he started to cry. My brother was the only man who I had come undone to. The wall I had created started to crumble. We both began to cry.

Wow it had been 2 years but I still could not stop crying. Well I got up and went for a bath. The water felt so good. I always hoped it would wash my tears away or mask them at least. After my bath I spent some time figuring out what to wear. Well I didn't exactly you did not carry the best clothes when u go travelling especially when u are going to Africa for aid work. Wait what's this? aha! I found a frock, a chiffon flowy one at that. I had taken that in hope that if one day Michael would ask me out...'hmmm ...how did that turn out, your friend took him till u debated the ethical implications of asking your professor out. "Can we please drop that?" I said aloud. Wait why was picking out my dress?'

Oh no, I looked down at my legs and suffice to say that they looked like they belonged to one of two hairy bikers. Okay that was a little too much but yeah they needed to be mowed. So I dug into my bag and found my razor. As I was turning myself from a hairy biker to a lady there was a knock on my door. I kept my razor and ran to open the door. As I opened the door, there he was the reason why I was dressing up and shaving my legs. Sam Winchester, he was fair game. I always liked guys like him. Nerdy, cute and true gentlemen. But none of them had a body like him. They were actually a lot paler and often thinner than me. I liked the fact that he never try to show off his Greek God like body. It was like a birthday gift from your work colleagues. You were sure it would be something regular nothing out of the ordinary and then unwrap it to see it was exactly what u wanted. Wait why was he looking at me like that? How long was I fantasizing about him?

"Oh my God you're bleeding" he said. Then I looked at my legs, oh no I had cut myself while shaving. "I'll get the first aid" he said. Always use soap while shaving, damnit.

He came in with the first aid. He knelt in front of me and took my leg in his hands. As he cleaned the wound, there was a sting of pain. My foot twitched under his grip. "It's not as bad as I thought" he observed. While he was nursing my wound, my other leg brushed his other leg. I felt his grip stiffened on my wounded leg. Oh this was going to be so sweet. "Ah…huh" was all he could say and blushed. I loved this reaction, it always gave me a power rush.

"You don't use nail color-" he asked.

"Of course I do, do u like that?" I said.

"Yeah, my girlfriend ..."he stopped midway. Oh great, of course he would have a girlfriend. The good ones always did.

"Oh so you have a girlfriend?"

"Had… I had a girlfriend."

"Oh, what happened?" wait did I really needed to know that. Of course I did, Yash always said' there's no such thing as TMI'

"She...I...lost her year ago" he dropped my leg and got up.

"Oh God, that so sad! I'm so sorry. Did she paint her nails or did you?-" I said rising as well. "Hey Sammy...I mean Sam wait please. Let's sit for a while."

He sat down next to me "I'm sorry, I thought I was over her."

"You can never get over people who you love. Some part of them always stays with you."

We sat there in silence. Ok one thing you need to know about me is that I hate awkward silences. It seemed like Sam hated them too.

"So, what's with the frock and everything?"

"Well I just decided to get in touch with my feminine side. On a serious note how do I look?" I said standing up.

"You look pretty actually." He said looking down. Was he blushing,

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Nooo. I mean it" He said looking up and (yes!) was blushing.

"You know what you are right. I do need to paint these" I said looking down at my feet.

I started exploring through my luggage. There it was the box I got from my backstabber of a friend of mine had given me when I was leaving. 'Wow, where was that coming from...I had been so civil. '_Oh I'm so happy for you. So glad you got it out in the open._' I had said while my heart was bleeding.'

"Whoa, you're into rap and hip-hop"

"Yeah, didn't you figure it when Dean was ripping on me..."

"Yeah Dean can be a douche sometimes"

"Sometimes...really."

"Hey come on, he's...let's just say he's been on a rough ride lately. Wow you really cannot apply that can u"he said looking at my attempts at applying nail color.

"Yeah you caught me there, I can't. Mostly my friends or my bro...would. You know what this is pointless. It looks horrible."

"Nooo ...you know what give it here" he took the bottle from my hands and gave it good shake.

"Where's the remover? Oh here, did u buy this manicure set?"

"No it was a going away present from my 'friend'."

"Oooh was it from your professor?"

"No it was from my friend Julia. Apparently she liked him too and also had the balls to tell him that. While I was there waiting for the angels to descend from heavens"

"Ha, angels from heaven...but that blows. Did she know how you felt about him? "

"No but I had mentioned her that I find him cute, I just couldn't stand this betrayal. Hence I caught the first flight out of Mombasa."

He picked up my foot and started to paint them red.

"Whoa! red really."

"Yeah why not suits your dress and your personality. Hot and feisty"

It was now my turn to blush now.

"So u think I'm feisty?"

"Not me, but Dean thinks you are feisty...I just think u are..."

"Hot..."

"So..." he cleared his throat "you and Eminem. How was that even possible?"

"Oh I used to sneak into the hood when I was kid..."

"Are u serious?" he dropped his brush and started laughing.

"But on a serious note, my brother introduced me to it. In fact he took me for a concert. I love poetry and he was like you wanna hear live poetry. I said yes and the next thing I know I'm at a rap concert of 2pac. I was acting like a real snub Bitch which wasn't really helping since I was Brown and my brother was white. He looked at me and said 'Yamini, can't u hear its poetry of the streets.' I then started to listen and I realized that the beats might be the same but words talked about the hopelessness of projects and life in the ghetto. They spoke of love lost, pain of losing someone even though they were right there. But they had turned stone cold. The poor found a voice in this poetry and people were listening...oh I'm sorry. How long have I been talking about this? You need to stop me when i go on my rants "

"No that was beautiful, really. I never realized rap was about all this stuff."

"Wow you really know how to paint nails. Please teach me."

"Okay why not"

"Can I try out on your hands?"

"Umm... sure why not"

"You know something we should have a little fun with your brother"

After half hour of learning how to paint and laughing and general jibber jabber. There was a knock on my door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

So I hid behind the door and Sam opened it.

"Hey...ho" Dean said. "Sam what the hell is this?"

"What, why are u looking like that at me this I'm getting in touch with my feminine side. Well here I am Sam or Samantha as you like to call me" Sam said trying to control his laughter. But I could not help it. So I jumped out from behind the door laughing out loud.

"Is this your idea of being funny? Jesus! Sam get that makeup off your face and you I know you are behind this" he said pointing at me.

After Sam cleaned up we all met in the lobby. I was the first to come followed by Sam dressed in white shirt and blue jeans which highlighted his long legs and he held a beige colored jacket. Dean came down stairs wearing black shirt and blue jeans. Damn, these boys were hot… thank God after all the ugly ones this was a treat.

We all nodded to each other and Dean said "evenin ladies. So where are we heading to? An Indian place" he said while winking then smiling at me.

"I must say you look actually pretty today Yaminee. It must have taken a lot of effort."

Dean quipped. I ignored that back-handed compliment

"Okay I say we go about in the car and find good place to eat."

"Yeah, I think that's great idea" Sam said.

"You agree with her Sammy, that's seems to be happening a lot these days. Define good"

"Anything that doesn't read diner" I said.

"Wow really…fine then I ain't coming"

"Dean…please"

"I don't get it why..."

"Cos we aren't traveling on the road. We are going out to enjoy ourselves there" I said.

Dean looked at me and gave me a slanted smile.

"Okay, but not a douchey place like the one we went in the morning."

"Fine, this one will be a little more how do I put it unorthodox"

The town was filled with great options to eat. But I was looking for something special. We stopped at a place called Caesar's Garden. It was a glass paned sea facing restaurant. We asked to be seated and were informed that that all the family tables were occupied. So were offered a beautiful corner table. The only problem was that it was in the couple's area and had a candle as our main source of light.

"This is awkward" me and Dean said in unison. Sam sat there smiling at this coincidence.

"Come on guys this isn't so bad"

"Oh yeah Sam, the only way this can be qualify as better if we had a gun in the middle and we were playing Russian roulette"

"Okay, let's keep Dean's annihilating suggestion at bay and let's see the menu" I said.

"Whoa, this place ain't exactly cheap... hope u have the dough" Dean said looking at the menu.

"Yeah I do. Or else I'm sure Dean can charm his way out of the bill. The hostess cannot seem take her eyes off you" I said winking at him.

We ordered wine and some 'aperitifs' that our lovely and smitten hostess suggested.

"So what's the deal with you? You go to Africa and what you found the blood diamonds?" Dean asked.

"I actually got my parents' inheritance" I said dryly.

"Hahaha...really, it's seems to have...ouch" Dean said looking under the table. He looked up and Sam who had his Bitch face on.

"Oh I'm sorry, you actually meant that" Dean said apologetically. "I honestly thought u were kidding"

"Oh that's okay" my voice was heavy with emotion. "Oh God, I hate this." I said wiping my tears. "yeah now this makes it really awkward." I realized Sam was holding my hand.

"Hey that's okay, I guess one can never get over your parents death" Dean said.

"Was it recent?" Sam asked

"Not really, I lost my mom like 2 years ago. My dad died a year before mum. Technically, I'm supposed to be able to talk about this. Ok..." I said taking a deep breath "enough about me, let's talk about you. What's your story?"

The boys exchanged glances. "Well we are on the same boat as you. We recently lost our father...and lost our mum when we were kids" Dean said avoiding eye contact.

Sam was smiling. We both looked at him stunned. His expression changed when he saw us staring at him.

"Oh no no no...The way we're holding hands it seems like we are about to contact the dead like in a séance or something."

With that we all started to smile. After which the drinks and main course went well. Both me & Dean figured that we thoroughly enjoyed our proteins and had massive appetites as well. When the hostess came for desserts menu Sam ordered coffee and when he turned to Dean, I stopped her and called her over to me. The boys were looking at me as the hostess left.

"Wow, that was rude" said Dean.

"All in good time Dean" I said.

A few minutes later the waiter bought a tray with Sam's coffee and something under those round lid things. Wow this place was fancy, they were using things even I didn't know about. Actually I did remember seeing these lids but never cared to ask what they were. The waiter opened the lid and voila there it was a warm pie.

"Oh God, is that an apple pie"

"Yes sir, bezt in thowne sir" said our waiter in his heavy French accent.

The pie's thin crust crumbled under the knife. It was warm and smelled like heaven...seriously it did. Before I could dig in I heard Dean moaning. "This is soo good" is all that Dean managed to say.

"I know, it's 'bezzt' in thowne. When Sam told me you liked pies a lot. I asked our version of Alfred about it and he suggested this place. This is my way of saying thank you guys."

"Well don't be afraid to ask for help anytime. By the way is the butler's name is really Alfred?"

"Hahaha no not really" I said.

The hostess came over flashed a smile at all of us and then a little more at Dean. This girl was really sweet on him. She wasn't bad looking either blonde hair, light blue eyes nice full lips.

"I hoped u enjoyed your dinner"

"Yes, could we get the bill please?" Sam asked.

"Well are u going to ask her?" I asked when our hostess had left us.

"Nah...not my type"

"Yeah that's the reason you cannot stop looking at her and smiling" Sam said.

Meanwhile she came over with our bill. I gave my card. While she was getting the card I picked my purse and looked at Sam indicating him to leave.

"Hey we're leaving so soon"

"Ah no, I'm going to the ladies room and Sam is outside waiting. When she comes over ask her out. Okay, bye"

We got up and left Dean at the table.

Sometime later I saw Dean and Sam outside the hotel.

"Her shift ends in an hour. So we can hang out until then. Let's get a few drinks. Do u drink?"

"Of course I do."

"Let's get moving then. Katie told me there's a bar around the corner called Bull's Horn."

"Oooh Katie...,first names, already. Nice let's go" i said smiling.

So Bull's Horn was more English pub than an American bar.

"I'm getting 2 beers and..." he said looking at me.

"Vodka and cranberry...no wait what's that…", I saw one guy carrying shots. "Let's get those."

"Nooo" Sam said. "Dean still has to meet the girl. I don't want her to see the real Dean" he said smiling.

Dean made Bitch face "You are such a buzz kill, dude. I wanted to see Yaminee drunk" Dean said making a sad pout.

"I know, even I wanted to see Dean drunk. Is he a mean drunk or happy one? "

"Well firstly I'm awesome and after I'm drunk I become super-awesome. Sammy here is mean drunk"

"What...Nooo...I'm not. You know what I'm getting the drinks" Sam said getting up to get our drinks.

"Can you get me a Sambuca or a Caprioshka?"

"Has he always been like this?" I asked looking at Sam as went to get our drinks.

"Yeah he's kind of moralist and he's been like this since he was a kid"

"You two seem close?"

"Yeah my dad was on kind of a traveling job. So it was mostly just me and him."

"Oh that explains a lot"

"Hey what do you mean by that..."

"Oh I mean that you know...you guys share those meaningful glances. You kind of have a telepathy among the two of you"

"Wow you seem to be hyper observant"

"Oh please it's all out in the open, for all to see"

"For all to see what..." Sam said placing the drinks.

"That you guys seem to have a lot of eye sex" and I started laughing.

"Let's raise our glasses to our quirky but feisty friend here" Dean said.

"Yes and to friendship and thank God for you guys for picking me up that night" I said. After that I realized quite a few people turned to look at us.

"Oooh...ok, by the way I came to know that this town has a spooky past. The ghost of a vigilante sheriff haunts the streets. In 1860s a sheriff named John Murtagh was known for being brave and just. But one day the sheriff disappeared for a week. A week later he was found dead on the very grounds of Delaware mansion."

"That's a nice ghost story. Is it real?" Sam said.

"It better be or my faith on this tourist manual would be lost forever" I said holding the pamphlet up.

"Things people say to get tourist" I said.

"You don't believe it"

After this the next hour was spent on existence of ghosts and ghouls. I can safely say we agreed to disagree. But nonetheless I had the best one hour in a long time. An hour later, Dean left me and Sam together to meet Katie.

"So shall we go back?"Sam asked.

"Nooo...this town has quite a hot club scene like every beachfront town" I said holding the pamphlet. I tried to read it but I couldn't...wow I was little drunk it seemed.

"A Club...really...hahaha"

"Why not? Are you afraid? I wanna see your moves Sam Winchester" I said moving closer to him.

"Come let's go"

"Wait how are we gonna go around"

"On foot" I said standing up on my wobbly feet.

"Okay, walking is a definite no. So let's see for a cab or something" said Sam balancing me.

"Or you can carry me"

Well towns are always town no matter how big they were. We couldn't get a cab so we reached the club on foot. My head was a little clear...note to self I should never have Sambuca again. It was sweet but that meant it was more potent. We were in front of Blue Waters, loud music was blaring from inside.

"Better get your IDs out Sam" I said smiling and looking at Sam's Bitch-face number 42.

We went in...it was like any other club...loud music almost deafening...the lights...swanky bar counter and a dance floor where people were dancing.

"I haven't been in a place like this since I left Stanford" Sam said yelling in my ears from behind.

"Well, let's see how rusty u are...here have this"

We sipped in 2 shots of tequila each and marched into the dance floor. We started moving...more like I started moving and Sam just stood there.

"Hey don't worry about anything. Just move to the groove."

"You can really dance..."

"I'm an Indian we dance at every occasion be it weddings or religious festivals...we just a need a reason to party...now shake that ass for me…come on"

The next song was my absolute favorite' teenage dream' by Katy Perry. I know, I know ….but hey everyone has pop favorites.

As the groove picked up...I moved closer to Sam. He didn't seem to mind.

_'I finally found it my missing puzzle piece' _the speakers blared_._

We were front and back. I took his hands and placed them on my hips.

_'Let's go all the way to night no regrets just love'_

Sam actually began nuzzling into my neck.

_'My heart stops when you look at me. Just one touch and baby I believe'_

I turn around and we are facing each other. We looked at each other and then he leaned in and so did I until our lips met. It was a chaste kiss at first. But then he pulled me even closer and kissed me again this time our lips crashed against each other. My lips parted, we both invaded each other's mouth. My hands were in his hairs and his hands were around me pulling me closer. This felt so right...we both wanted this...all that tension, the looks the not-so accidental touches the smiles...it had all finally getting a vent out. I pushed him away. He looked at me like a kid who had his candy taken from him. I took his hand and led him to ladies room. As soon as the door closed Sam pressed me against the door and started kissing my neck. I was trying hard to stifle a scream and ended up moaning. I could feel his weight on top of me. It felt so good to be wanted to be like this forever.

"Sammmm...wait"

"Why...please don't say stop" Sam said, his voice heavy with yearning.

He stopped and I turned around. Oh God this is what I wanted to see the look of yearning in his eyes. I kissed him hard this time and I opened his shirt and managed to snake my hands under his t-shirt. Oh God, he was warm and hard.

"Oh God...Yamini!"

With this Sam picked me up and placed me on the sink. His hands were now on my legs and were now moving upwards pushing my frock upwards. I moaned loudly and so did he. I never realized when we both lost our lower half of clothes. My legs were tightly wrapped around Sam now. He started kissing my jaw line and then he bit me. I couldn't stop it anymore. I screamed "oh God!...yes Sam!...yes...don't stop". I could swear I saw see God in that moment. When I finally landed on earth...I saw resting his head on my chest panting heavily and I was sweating and panting as well. This post coitus bliss was disturbed by phone ringing.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

"Hey, it's Dean he wants us to come outside. He's gonna pick us up in a few minutes" Sam said pulling his pants up.

"Wow, he's back already. You go ahead I need to fix myself"

"Okay" he said closing the door behind him.

I looked at myself in the mirror. Wow what just happened? I had managed to surprise myself. My lipstick was wiped clean yet my lips and the area around them was red and swollen. My eyeliner was smeared. I looked like all those girls in college that I would encounter on my way back after a long night in the library. Had I joined their ranks? Did this mean anything? Or more importantly did I want it to mean something? I tried to consult my ever present conscience but nobody seemed to be home. I guess had finally drunk enough to make her pass out. Well let's just concentrate on not throwing up for now as my head was spinning due to the alcohol. Let's figure everything else later. I stepped out after 'fixing' myself into the club and made my way through the people to finally reach the door. I came out of the door to see that it was raining and that Dean and Sam waiting for me in the Impala. I took my hairs to one side to hide the hickey, smiled and got into the car.

"So...clubbing...what are you guys in college or something?" Dean was the first to break silence.

"Well this town is known for it and it was too early to go home" I replied.

"Don't change the topic Dean, what happened with Katie?" Sam asked.

"Yes! Why are you back so soon?"

"Hey I never stay the night. That's a rule." Dean said grinning. "Then, I realized that Sam had the keys. So I had to call u guys"

The night was quiet and cold. As we moved closer to the mansion, I noticed a slight blanket of fog. When we entered the lobby we noticed that it was practically deserted.

"That's weird no one's home I guess?" Sam observed.

"Let's go guys, my feet are killing me." I said.

We reached our floor and there were no lights there. "What the hell?" Dean said. After that the lights were back on.

"Oh good, they're back" the butler said in his frail voice.

"Thank you" I said. "Ok boys it was fun tonight. See you guys in the morning"

"Good night. Sleep tight" boys said in unison.

I went in and crashed on my bed. I felt myself sink in. Oh God this felt so nice, this was a fancy place. 'But did it feel as good when Sam picked us up? Nah, nothing could compare to that.' I said and I realized I was blushing. I got up and went to bathroom for a quick bath. I changed my mind when I saw the bathtub. I had mentally promised myself when I first saw it that I would use it. So I started to fill the tub. This night was truly legendary as me and my friends would say it. I had never done anything so reckless. It felt good, this feeling for doing something for myself. I smiled to myself in the mirror.

The bath was perfect. I could feel all my stress just dissolves in the water. When was the last time had I used bathtub. Well not since the time Yash had completely dropped the ball. He had become even more detached and nervous after mum's death. It was October 23rd, a bright sunny California day. I had woken up to see him sitting on my bed near my feet. He was up again all night.

I could make out from dark circles. I took his hand and he held it tightly.

"How about breakfast?" I asked.

He nodded. We went down for breakfast and my aunt and her family were staring at us like we didn't belong there. Yash just went back upstairs.

"Wait up" my uncle said. "Take the breakfast with you. Maybe he isn't ready yet"

I liked my uncle better than my aunt and her kids. Yeah my cousins were a bunch of jerks too. My uncle and I were the only people who were dealing with my brother's issues. I went upstairs to his room. It was dark. I placed the plates down and opened the windows to let the light in. I realized he wasn't there but the door to the bathroom was closed. I went over and knocked "Yash, open up. I got breakfast." I heard nothing. I knocked again this time louder. No answer. I panicked now. I pushed the door with all my strength. I called my uncle. He came rushing in "he isn't opening up." We both hurled ourselves at the door. The door opened. I saw him in the bathtub under the water. I went over and pulled him out. He caught me and said "he's trying to get me. I see him everywhere. I saw him in the mirror. And look." I saw his wrists were bleeding. I held him close and looked at my uncle. We both knew that I had to act now. My uncle was also a psychiatrist, in fact that's what we had been chatting the night before. Yash was becoming a threat to not just others but also himself. I didn't believe him then. But in that moment where he was in a bathtub with slit wrists, I had no choice. I couldn't lose him.

I opened my eyes, it was dark and cold. I got up in an effort to reach the switch. Then I realized that there were no walls behind me. In fact this did not seem like the bathroom anymore. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw there was something flickering in the dark. An orange glow, I decided to follow it. As I began walking towards the light I realized that I was in a tunnel.

At the end of this dark tunnel there was a door. An iron door was emanating the orange light. The door iron had grille. I looked inside, there was a furnace burning red hot. I saw a man putting something in the furnace. I looked harder to see what it was. What I saw made lose my breath. He had severed hand in his shovel. Then I looked at the pile that he was picking from. There were so many severed human body parts including heads. My mouth was open but no voice came through. "Where do you think you are goingsss?" A face showed near the grille. He had small sharp teeth like a piranha and small slits for eyes and a top hat. Oh no this was dream...nightmares. Wake up wake up... I left the door and began to run. As I was running I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. I fell to the ground. I felt his icy grip on my foot. He was pulling me towards himself. I started coughing, it was water. Wake up please wake up. I opened my eyes to see that I was under water.

I raised myself, gasping for breath. I realized the bathroom was cold and I felt like there was someone watching me from behind. I turned around to face the window where a face was staring at me. I gasped and then realized that the face was tied to a rope. That looked like a noose. Oh my God that man was hanging by the tree. I saw that and scrambled out of the bathtub. I ran out the bathroom door only to be greeted by a reflection of a lady in black dress staring at me with tears of blood in her eyes. Her dead grey hand pointing at something. I ran towards the main door. But something pulled me back. I fell to the floor and the woman in the mirror was now in front of me. Her long wiry, grey hands were reaching for me ….


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

But suddenly she vanished...

So there I was Sam towering over me. He bent down and asked "are you okay? Yaminee!"

"Huh...what...huh"

I started to cry and Sam hugged me. I got a grip on myself and managed to say "I'm fine..." and suddenly I remembered the man hanging by the tree. I ran to the bathroom window.

"He was there. A man was hanging there. Can u see him?"

"Yamini there's no one there. But hey I believe u"

Oh God had it really happened. Was the madness hereditary in our family? Sam seemed to have sensed my anxiety. He came over and hugged me. A sharp pain cruised through my body. . A sharp pain cruised through my body as Sam touched my lower back as well.

"Ahhh"

"What? Oh my God Yamini your leg and your back. Can I look here?"

He pressed his hand on my lower back again. I bit my lip and nodded.

Wow I had managed to grab a towel even in middle of all this. Gotta love reflexes. While I was pondering all this I realized Sam had removed the towel to see the bruise.

"How bad is it?"

Sam got up with a guilty look on his face.

"Did I do this? I'm so sorry. I must have got carried away"

"Oh no Sam, it wasn't you. I'm sure I got both these now"

"You know what, just put on something. You're sleeping with us tonight. I'm guessing this has been too much for you"

As I walked out of the bathroom I stepped on something grainy. What the hell was this?

"Sam did you throw salt on me? Why?"

"Huh...oh that...I panicked"

I managed to put on a long tee shirt on. My bag was such a mess. Sam had picked me up and stepped into the corridor. Before Sam could knock the door Dean opened it.

"Why is it that every time I see you one of us has to carry you?" He smiled.

"Quit whining you, I'm feather light...okay, I know I'm exaggerating. But look at the brighter side you don't have to do lift weights"

Both the boys started laughing. "Okay, Dean Can you get the first-aid?"

"Whoa, yes"

"Can you get the Relispray as well? She has a nasty bruise here"

I slapped Sam's hand away from my lower back.

"Quit touching it Sam. It hurts"

"Okay, you big baby"

"Sam here is spray. I'll look at the scratch here"

"Ahhh...oooh.."

I'm burning and feeling cold at same time. "You know guys I had imagined making these noises but not this way."

"Stop it..." I said giggling. Dean was blowing on the antiseptic and it was tickling me. My foot was moving under his tight grip but as I turned a little more towards Sam the sharp pain came back again.

"Oh God this is really uncomfortable." I complained.

"Once u sleeps on it you will feel alright"

"Sleep after what I saw no way. I'm already sure I'm losing my mind"

"Here have this. It'll put you right out."

"Dean stop! Giving her Rum okay."

"Shut up Sam."

"Okay, guys I'll have that Dean. I have request. I need someone next to me. If you see me twitching or something just slap me or something and wake me up. Please."

With that I downed the Rum. "Yuck, is this supposed to put me to sleep permanently and oh Sam try waking me with water, let's just keep the salt for the table."

This stuff felt really warm inside. The bed was nice and warm. I was fast asleep, nice and sound. For the first time in days I had actually slept nicely. When I opened my eyes and realized that I couldn't move because Dean's hand was preventing me from moving. The bed opposite me was empty.

"Go back to sleep. It's too early" Dean said sensing that I was moving. My brother once said that there's never too much of something good. So I went back to bed and enjoyed my sleep. I was awoken by sound of two people whispering.

"We need to do something Dean. Turns out the folklore is true. I mean haven't really worked a case in days now."

"I know but with her here...I don't if it's such a good idea. Plus how do u know that it was a spirit?"

"Dean I saw it...her...she was attacking her. Plus what are you gonna tell her about why we are leaving. Not to forget we are leaving these people in hands of a vengeful spirit"

"Okay you got a point there. Then what do we tell her?"

"Tell me what"

They both jumped.

"Oh nothing, we were discussing the events of last night"

"Exactly what were you discussing?" I said not believing them.

They both exchanged glances. Sam came up to me.

"Yamini, we think this place is haunted."

"Hahaha you really know great way to make a girl feel safe."

"No Yamini, the woman you saw last night was a ghost"

Okay now I was a little freaked out but I actually felt better that I wasn't going crazy.

"These bruises were given to you by her. I went and checked the bathroom after you. There was no broken glass or anything else that could have caused this."

I was listening to him with my full attention. God he could be so convincing. Listen to what he's saying, genius. I looked towards Dean for confirmation. He nodded.

"Okay, let's just assume that last night I saw a ghost. What do you propose to do? Leave this place?"

"No we don't leave." Dean got up and sat next to me. He took a deep breath "Remember we told you that we are into hunting."

"Yeah"

"Well we hunt monsters for a living"

"Okay, I'm still dreaming isn't it?"

"No you're not dreaming this is really happening" Dean was looking into my eyes. Wow he had really green eyes,focus Yamini, focus.

"Can we have breakfast? I'm really hungry." I said. Both the brothers looked at each other.

"Okay, yeah why not"

We went downstairs and there was a lovely smell wafting from the hotel's dining hall. We entered the hall and were greeted by a very nervous looking receptionist Lydia. She refused to make any eye contact with us. So I picked a plate and went around the buffet picking up stuff to eat while the boys were close behind me. I finally sat down and asked the waiter get me some tea and coffee for the guys. I realized Sam was no longer on table joining us as he seemed to have vanished somewhere.

"Okay Yaminee, I know you don't wanna talk. I know this routine okay."

Meanwhile the tea arrived. I poured myself some and sipped it. It was perfectly brewed and just the right amount of milk.

"Dean what do you want me to say that in my entire life I've never believed in ghost or ghouls or anything supernatural, because they weren't real. Now you're telling me all that is real"

Dean let out a small laugh. I got a little irritated at this. "What's so funny?"

"It's amazing how you can believe that you are going insane rather than believing that an actual ghost attacked you"

Wow…yeah that was true. Why was I so convinced that I was going insane? We (me and my inner voice decided) should trust them. 'What...are u serious? Why?' Let's ask the reverse question why not? What had being rational and pragmatic thinking got us? The last few days where we were almost irrational had actually been the best days of our lives. How bad could it get?

I sat quiet for a while looking out to the lovely view of the sea and the town below.

"So do you guys have a plan of action? I mean how do you hunt ghosts. Is there a method to this madness? "

Sam joined our table. "So are you in or not"

"I know this is a bad idea but what the hell"

"Great...so I'm guessing Dean has briefed you about the situation"

"Actually he's not."

"Ohkay, Dean Can we please concentrate at the matter at hand" Sam said pulling Dean away from staring a lovely old car.

"Wow, we're off to great start" I said smiling drily.

"Okay how about this? You have always wanted to be a detective right? This is your opportunity." Dean said looking into my eyes.

"Okay, so we begin by investigating the employees. Then try and do some research and figure out what's really haunting this place." Sam said.

"Then good part comes now. Once we figure our prep then we find out where they are buried and then you salt and burn their bodies or anything belonging to them."

"Wow, I didn't know it was so methodical. Okay how can I help? I'm really good in research"

"Okay, you two geeks hit the library then and I'll talk to the staff here"

We got the directions from the desk about the library and made our way through the town. It was a beautiful sunny day. I turned the radio on where the song 'the little things' came on. It was a nice beach song perfect for a day like this. It was also a song perfect for the situation.

Nooo it was not. Could we not think about this? Can you for once just take things on face value and not dissect it? 'Cos I don't wanna be sitting by myself and wondering I'm better off' the radio blared. Oh my God please stop this okay Yamini. There's nothing here. I guess my conscience was a hussy. You know what in fact I refuse to call her my conscience.

I began singing the song loudly in my head. At least that's what I thought that's when I heard a throat clear besides me. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize I was singing loudly."

"No, I mean you sing quite well"

"Oh please Sam don't be so nice. Especially if you run the risk of getting hearing aid"

"Hahaha...why do you judge yourself so harshly?"

"What can I say I'm never afraid to accept the truth? Cos once you do you can make improve it."

"I think there's another reason here. You are afraid that others might judge you harshly so you preemptively judge yourself harshly."

"Wow, great pop psychology, Dr Phil."

"Thanks I try." Sam said smiling. "But I still think you have a good voice."

"Really" I said sticking my tongue out.

"Wow real mature Yamini"

"I think that's the one"all of a sudden the song had changed and it was 'teenage dream'. Oh God anything but that. Where is an Eminem song when you need one? We both sat quite and awkward. I went to change the song Sam held my hand. Oh no, Was this really happening? Was he getting the wrong idea about what had happened last night in the club… Get out ...get out.

"Oh look here we are at the library. Let's go" I said getting out.

I just walked straight ahead without looking back. Oh God he must think I'm a weirdo or something. Oh please okay I'm sure he does that too sometimes.

I went inside, it was impressive library. It had two floors to begin with. Very spacious and airy, big french windows where tables were set up. I was gonna love this place. I went over to librarian and said "quite a fine library you have got here"

"Oh that's because it's not just funded by council but we also receive money from the Delaware trust. This is also the main library in the county" said a checkered sweater wearing and surprisingly young librarian with a welcoming smile.

"Wow, that's nice. Well I'm here to look into the history of the town. Especially 1900s..."

"Oh you will get all the information on the second floor. Let me show you" he said rising from his chair.

"No there will be no need for that. I'm Sam, her assistant. You can just give me the numbers"

"Well you have the tags and computer up there. That should be able to help you" he said curtly.

"Thanks" I said giving him an awkward smile.

"Wow is this how you do all your investigation"

He walked ahead without saying anything. Oh great, was I seeing a Bitch fit here? Why was he angry with me? Did he want to talk about last night? This was going to be awkward. Sam turned on his laptop. I sat in front of him.

"You know it will be useless without this." I said handing him the password for the Wi-Fi.

"Sam can we please adults here?"

"Wow I cannot believe _you_ are telling me this. You are so like Dean it's not even funny"

After this altercation an uncomfortable silence hung between us. He got up and vanished into one of the aisles.

We should go make out with him. What!? No we weren't going to do that. That wasn't the right thing to do. We would just lead him on. Blah...blah...blah why do you have to be this miss goody two shoes. No means no and I literally put my foot down with a huge thump.

I looked around and saw a few people staring at me. Okay get back to work. So I sat on the library computer scanning for anything on Delaware mansion. I hit a jackpot was it really the word I wasn't looking for here when I came to a few articles in the newspaper about certain murders that took place at the mansion. One was in the 1986, another in 95 and the last one was last year. The two earlier murders were that off two men who owned the Delaware estate and the recent one was of a guest an art curator. Since last year the mansion was plagued with many small accidents. One articles also mentioned that the salsa ball was the last attempt of the mansion and its current owners. Oh wow this was big...I had to tell Sam about this. So there I went searching one aisle after another to search for him.

"Sam" I whispered. I reached the last aisle when suddenly I heard "in here" being whispered. I went inside the aisle. There was a flickering light at the end of the aisle. I walked over there someone caught my hand and pulled me away from the flickering light into the darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

I went and crashed on the rock hard chest of Sam Winchester.

"Oh my God don't do that...mmmmmm"

Sam had pushed me against the wall and was kissing me passionately. My hands made their way into his hairs. His hands were underneath my t-shirt. Was I really doing this?...it was so wrong. But it felt so good the way his hands were on my lower back. The way his tongue felt inside my mouth and his hairs were so soft. No I should stop, I was leading him on.

All of a sudden there was a strong throat clearing sound from the well-lit areas at the end of the corridor where the aisle met the library walkway. We both looked to see the librarian glaring at us.

We both went red in our faces. He just kept looking at us. So I climbed down and Sam straightened out his clothes and hairs.

"Ah...can you show me where the copy machine is?" Sam asked.

He just pointed towards it, gave us a massive stink eye and finally left us alone.

Oh God I shouldn't have done this. Why not and technically it wasn't you who started it. He pulled you in and then you let your instincts take over. Yeah I guess you're right. Wow I was listening to a part of my conscience that had no values whatsoever. Sam and me met outside the library after sometime.

"Oh man, Dean is going to be pissed."

"I don't think so" I said.

"Really why, cos what we did in there doesn't qualify as research"

I blushed and cleared my throat "well I did find about the mansion and its recent past. I also managed to get the copies"

"Wow, you're really good"

I took a bow, and continued "are you ready for this? Lydia yes the lady at the reception is also the current owner of the mansion"

"Wow, are you serious?"

"Yes furthermore the mansion has seen its share of murders, to be precise 3. One in `85 another one in `95 and last one was just last year. The earlier two were in the family itself."

"And the last one?"

"That was a guest in the hotel"

"Okay. I guess we can begin from the latest victims."

"Hey, found anything guys" Dean said. I turned to look and oh my! The sight I saw. Dean was looking sharper than a knife. He was wearing a suit white dress shirt and lovely and stunning bottle green tie matching his eyes.

"Hey where did you go to for an interview? What's with the suit? "

"Will explain later. I'm starving right now can we have lunch."

"Yeah why not. Wait…" my nose was struck by sweet smells of lemon grass and meat being grilled together. "Follow me and I shall lead you to a great place to eat". The boys obediently followed me and just around the corner and across the street we encountered a food truck. And what a truck it was Mexican and Asian fusion!

"Whoa! I'm impressed girl. Some nose you've got there" Dean said.

As we got our orders for chili pork burrito, breakfast special sandwich and salad, we sat down in the park bench. "So what do we know so far?" Sam asked.

"That Lydia is the owner of the mansion" we all said in unison.

"Okay so far we are on the same page" Dean observed.

We spent the next few minutes discussing what we knew.

"So now we need to find out about these murders."

"I also think we need to talk to this woman who writes the column 'around the corner'"

"Why?"

"Cos she seems to know a lot about the Delaware family. Look at all the columns she's written so far. She knows the family history as well as the financial troubles. Local gossip column are great yet neglected source of information"

"Yeah but they're also unreliable" Sam said grinning.

"Wow thank you professor. Firstly this is an investigation and not a thesis paper and newspapers are a legit source material. Plus I always believe that there's no smoke without fire"

"Okay, geeks cool it off. How about me and Yamini go off to question the columnist and you check the coroner's office?"

"Wait, how do you plan to get info from the coroner? Don't you need like an official document or something?"

"I...ah"

"He'll figure something out"

With this we parted ways. This was the first time me and Dean were alone alone. Sam wasn't going to come in with a drink or our food to break the silence. The first few minutes we were quite.

"Hey nice watch"

"Oh it was a gift from my brother. He made it for me"

"Your brother can make watches. Wow that's awesome. How old is he?"

"Can we not talk about this? I'm really uncomfortable"

"Okay...fine"

After some minutes of awkward silence I said, "I'm sorry...It's just not an easy topic to talk" my voice was heavy with emotion.

"Yeah I get that….So when did you lose him?"

"A year ago"

He didn't say anything after that.

We found that the columnist Miss Honey Bouchard Pennypacker Vandalay lived in the finer part of the town. Yes this town had made its money on tourist and orchards growing exotic flowers.

"Are you serious, this is her name? there are people with the name Pennypacker and Vandalay. Hahaha"

"What's so funny?"

"Don't you remember these are the names George Costanza and Kramer"

"Hahaha...oh yes when use to get inside the house in order to use the toilet."

"Yes the Puerto Rican day parade episode"

We came across a big iron gate where in the center of the gate the name Vandalay was mentioned with silver. I pressed the buzzer

"Hi I called from the newspaper earlier. I have an appointment with Mrs Bouchard Pennypacker- Vandalay"

"Please come she's been expecting you Miss Rosa"

"Rosa...really"

"Hey better than Art Vandalay. What are you going to be?"

"Derek Cobain"

"As in Curt Cobain…you like Rock music and you are Cobain…how original"

Through the gate we were walking on white gravelly path. On both sides were well manicured lawns with well manicured trees. The villa itself was a Spanish style hacienda. The door was opened by the butler who had buzzed us in.

"Madam is waiting for you in her parlor upstairs"

We went upstairs and were shown into a room with overlooking a window that opened into a gallery where I saw a figure standing. The figure turned around and came through the doors. "Please have a seat" said the husky voice. She was stunning for her age. Wow had I been transferred to one of Sidney Sheldon's novel. She was wearing a printed flowing dress which had one of those sexy one leg showing slits. "Hi there, I'm Honey and you are?"

"Oh we are writers. I'm Rosa Sanchez and this is my co-author Derek Cobain"

She turned a full 90 degree turn towards Dean. She was well tanned and well sculpted (by her doctor that is)."So Derek tell me about this book you are writing about." Wow fake and sexist. "Actually it's my book. He's helping me" I said. Dean threw me an incredulous glance like what-the-hell. "Oh really that's wonderful. So Derek, what is it that you called me for?" Wow this woman was impossible. Well she seemed like a paper cut version of all the society women turned writers/columnist. We learned that she too was writing a book. I wonder what that might be _'the troubles in finding the right plastic surgeon'_ or better still _'how to look fabulous for the Camera while feeding the poor'_ . Ha, that would be a nice book. Wait, why was she and Dean looking at me like that?

"Isn't it Rosa?" She said. "Of...course" i replied hastily. Dean rolled his eyes. Oh man, what had I agreed to?

"Great then I'll see two you for dinner at the mansion tomorrow. As my guest, we can all see yours and Miss Sanchez's moves then Mr. Cobain" she said squeezing Dean's thigh.

We left the estate after saying a rather long goodbye to Dean. "What a cougar!? So what did she say?"

"Well, a lot of things but the most important one being that you and I are invited to that stupid salsa thing. And what was that all about, doesn't matter you know now I'm a ladies' man. Even you couldn't resist my charm"

"What! are you serious?"

"Oh come on you got a little territorial there."

"Please I was offended by her blatant sexist behavior"

"Whatever, we need to find you a dress since we are going for that salsa thing ...Yamini are u listening"

I was busy watching a haunted bus tour. "What...oh man is that what she invited us to" i said.

"So what was she saying" I asked getting into the car.

"Well she mentioned that Lydia is the only Delaware left. Apparently the family has a curse on the male members"

"Curse? What curse? And the last guy killed was some kind of art dealer"

"Oh according to her he died of a heart attack. But she also mentioned the house had been renovated"

"So what's the connection?"

"Well it means that when you renovate an area then you could release a spirit"

"Wow, I did not know that"

His phone rang. "It's Sam" he pulled his car

"What's he saying". He put Sam on speaker.

"So it seems that both Delaware men died in their sleep. But the weird thing is that the cause of death was choking and listen to this they had striations marks on their necks like they were hanged."

"Well Sammy we found that the guy who died last year, died after renovations and turns out that men in the Delaware have curse on them."

"We need to find something about this curse"

"Yeah why don't you hit the library again Sammy"

"Uh...yeah..."

"I think Dean; you should go and talk to Lydia and use your ladies charm on her. Meanwhile me and Sam go to the library"

"You really are a geek aren't you? You wanna go to the library rather hanging out with me. I...uh mean rather than questioning the witnesses"

"Oh please I'm just trying to make myself useful here"

"Great, guys let's just meet in front of the library and then we can go from there" Sam said. So Dean left me and Sam in front of the library.

"So Sam, I'm sure that guy isn't gonna let you in"

"Yeah thanks captain obvious"

"Hey I'm trying to help here. So it's folklore you want why don't we go on a bus tour of the city. According to Google the mystery of Rosewood tour is the best one. The Eddie Sutherland is supposed to be the local history buff. It starts in like an hour near the pier"

"A bus tour, seriously!" In that moment we saw the librarian getting in and looking at us giving us another Epic stink eye. "You know what why not."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Oh this is such a bad idea" Sam said looking at a red and black colored bus. "Hey there folks are you here for the tour?" said a man wearing a top hat and a frock coat. He was wearing these steel framed round rimmed black glasses. "Yes, are you Eddie?" I asked nervously.

"No he's most certainly not. I'm Eddie Sutherland. He's dave my partner." I turned around to see the source of the voice. And it was Richard Gere...yes the guy could almost pass off as the actor. He had the same small eyes the long yet round nose and also the same mop of unruly white hair. I did breathe sigh of relief after seeing the guy. Otherwise I had started to think the town full of clichés from the nerdy town librarian to flamboyant gossip lady.

"He's my assistant Dave or David Cane. He's there to pull the crowd. You can either opt for him or me"

"You definitely you" Sam said

"Okay then hop on then"

Compared to Dave's, our bus was sparsely populated. We barely had like 5 seats full. The bus was mostly filled with people who were disappointed that they weren't on Dave's bus.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the mystery of the Rosewood bus tour. This tour plans to show you places and the story or shall I say the mystery that is hidden behind this otherwise scenic place. So let me tell you background of our lovely town of Deadwood. What's that u say it's Rosewood. I know but long before the pioneers came here it was known as Deadwood by the local tribe here. When settlers heard this name they decided to change it to Rosewood in 1800s. The town prospered mostly due to the fact that it had a port."

"Here is the Rosewood pier. This was built by the Milford Delaware. The Delaware family marks a very important milestone in the history of this town. He came from England to the new world in search of his fortune. He made his fortune by carrying freightliners from here to Europe and also within the country. He came here with his family with a wife and 3 children; 19 year old Annabelle, 17 years old Adam and 12 year Sebastian."

"Here we can see another important person in the history of the town. That's the legendary sheriff John Murtagh of Rosewood." He said as passed a bronze statue of man mounted on a horse with a sheriff's uniform on. "Now sheriff Murtagh was well known for keeping various bandits and hoodlums in check. In fact Rosewood was considered a safe haven for honest people to work and live because of Murtagh. Now ladies and gentlemen we come to the heart of the mystery. A place where the mystery itself began" we stopped in the middle of what looked bus port.

"Is the tour over?" Sam asked as we saw all the other people hustling out of the bus.

"Most certainly not sir now begins my favorite part of our tour" he said to Sam. We followed him outside the bus. He was waving to the rest of group to gather around. "Now we walk as we follow the path of the most grisly murders this town has ever witnessed"

"Wow and you guys made a bus port on it" said a guy with dark curly hairs and thick glasses. Eddie just smiled and said "no my dear friend it's right behind you on the other side of the road. It was on a wall of building. We crossed the road. "Here lies Bertha Mason. She was a lady of the night as they would call. In those days, this building was a saloon and not the offices Green and Langley. This building was pretty much the end of the town. Owing to the profession of the lady there was no real investigation as such. But sheriff didn't close the file altogether either. In fact, he actually created a list of all the working women at that time. But this wasn't going to be last of the bodies that would show up." After this we went to at least 5 other spots around the town and I saw Sam marking the spots on the map.

"See it wasn't as bad an idea"

"True, I'll give you that. He really knows his stuff. Really engaging as well"

Eddie went into the grizzly details of each murder alongside details to the historical details. Turns out the later victims were girls working on farms and even a gypsy girl from a carnival that had visited the town. There was a clear pattern here the murderer was targeting women who were living by themselves or whose loss would not be felt by anyone. There was also the fact that most women were murdered by hanging since that's what the marks on their necks suggested according to Eddie.

We stopped at a garden in the patio in the center of the garden. We saw there was the church on one side and the town house on the other which was a red brick building.

"This is where the next turning point comes of our case. This town hall was then the sheriff's office as well. There was a visitor for sheriff Murtagh. It was sheriff Williams from neighboring county. He said that his niece Mary went missing a month ago and he had tracked her down here. She had runaway with a young man named Dick and he was seen in these parts. Murtagh got worried at this because she fit the pattern. He got on the case right away. They tried to find the boy. They found Dickey boy in Rosewood's 's clinic. The doctor claimed that he found him on his way back into town. The injured boy told the rest of the story. He and his girl had run away from folks' home in the next county. They took a train from her home and left the train at Blackwater junction and from there they had decided to walk till Rosewood. When they were walking down the road towards Rosewood he could hear a horse carriage coming behind them and it stopped before them. It was black carriage with two black steeds attached to it. A thin wiry man with big eyes and a pale face who was the driver, offered them a ride. As soon as they sat inside he felt someone hit him on the head and he blacked out."

"This was the spot" he said pointing. We all looked around to realize the fact that we were actually on a wooded area outside the town. He was a really good storyteller. "The sheriff now had a clue and a witness. They set search in of the carriage. All the carriage drivers were questioned. None of them said it was one of theirs. One of the drivers said that he seemed to know the man who fit the description of the driver. His name was Clayton. According to him Clayton was mostly seen in the parts of Ollie fields." as we had reached atop a hill he showed us wasteland mostly with tumbleweeds and ruins and mostly a flat and bald spot in the middle of a wooded area. "This is Ollie fields. It was a place where all the scum from the county met. The sheriff combed the whole place twice but Clayton had not been there in a long time. It seemed the trail had run cold again. The council men and people were scared more than ever."

He went silent as if waiting for something to happen."But suddenly one evening when dark clouds had gathered and were already thundering as if to announcing the impending doom. A dark horse rode right through the town. The sheriff was chatting in front of the town hall with Milford and other members of the council. The horse was carrying a body of woman. It was the missing girl, Mary. She was hog-tied and placed on the horse that came and stood right in front of Murtagh." said Dave in a rather theatrical manner. "The girl was dead! The body had a grizzly note pinned to her corset. It said that to find Clayton follow the horse. As they lowered the body off the black steed it began pacing. The sheriff whistled for his own horse. It had started to rain heavily. He followed the steed which was now moving with the speed of the wind. That was the last anyone saw of sheriff Murtagh." There was again a silence in the group, the wind had picked up and there was chill in the air. I realized my hands were shivering and I saw Sam had dug his hands into his pockets.

"Until 2 weeks later the sheriff was found dead on the property of Delaware mansion. The manservant at the mansion ran to tell his master. The entire household came rushing to see a Grimm scene of murder where on one hand was sheriff Murtagh with a bullet in his heart sitting under a tree. The gun was still in his hands pointing towards the pale white and bony body of Clayton whose eyes were still wide open and staring in shock with another gun in his right hand. It was epic end and mysterious end to the hunt for the mass murderer. But in this battle the town had lost one of its bravest officers." He took off his top hat and bowed his head in front of the statute of John Murtagh. The entire group was silent. "But that's what the town thought. The sheriff had no plans on leaving. It is said on stormy and rainy night's you can still hear and sometimes even see the sheriff chasing the black steed" with this he let out and evil laugh. With this everyone around started clapping. Dave was taking a bow as though he just finished a theatre performance.

I looked towards Eddie but he was shaking his and looked openly disappointed. I elbowed Sam who was busy looking at his phone. We both looked at him and Sam said "Mr Sutherland seems to not agree with this ending. I think there is more here than meets the eye."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

As the group dispersed some moving towards the town and some girls were now hovering around Dave, me and Sam walk towards Eddie who was getting ready to walk towards the bus.

"Hey Eddie" Sam called out.

"Oh hey, do u guys want a lift back?" He asked.

"Yeah, thanks a lot" Sam looked at me.

"Okay, hop on then. Most people who come here prefer to walk back since it's quite scenic" he said looking around.

"Yeah, it's lovely town but such a grizzly history. So did the murders actually stop after the death of Clayton?" I asked.

"Of course they did" he said.

"I saw you shaking your head when Dave was telling us about the 'epic' end of the tale. Why was that?" Sam asked.

"Well u see, history always has its versions. Many people don't wish to reveal the true history cause it might hurt our preconceived ideas of what or who is right or wrong. What you heard is the mutually agreed version of history."

"What is the right version, according to you then? Cos we know for a fact that you are local history buff" I said smiling at him.

"Wow where did you hear that. I won't say a buff but yes I'm an expert. So what do you kids wanna know?"

"Well what really happened?" Sam asked.

"Well Dave is correct upto the part where the black steed came rushing to town with a dead body on it. The sheriff did follow the steed and wasn't heard from until a week later when he was found dead. The version that you heard was what Milford Delaware told the town council. But when the sheriff's body was brought to the coroner, he found striation marks on his neck. So the bullet wasn't the cause of death. He was shot after he had died in order to show Clayton had shot him."

"But why would anyone do that?"

"Exactly, cos Clayton wasn't our man he was framed. He was a mere pawn in the game"

"He was framed by who..." Sam asked.

"By Delaware" I said.

"You are sharp. Yes, you see he was found on the Delaware's estate"

"But Delaware was equally worried about the murders as the others?" Sam said.

"Yeah but the steed was the first clue. As the steed ran across town, Mr Smith who was another of the council members there and bred horses on his ranch was sure that the animal belonged to Delaware"

"How do you know of this?" I asked.

"Well I was writing a book on these murders. I found this as a diary entry from Mr Smith own personal diary. So this meant that someone in the Delaware household had used the horse and the body as a bait to lure the sheriff onto the estate"

"But why was anyone from the household murdering all these women?" I asked.

"I think it was male member of the household. I say male because if you see the crime scenes you'll see that the victims were mostly women. Very carefully chosen and the way they were murdered as though they were facing punishment for whatever crimes he thought that they had committed. Another similarity that led me to believe it was a man was the fact all these women had dark hair and big eyes and the fact they had broken a heart of some or the other man. For example: bertha, had turned down a proposal from Clayton himself and Mary the niece had left her husband at the altar. Milford's wife had left him as well."

"So is this your theory or..." Sam was saying when Eddie interrupted him.

"Oh no this was Murtagh theory as well. After the first 3 murders he had realized that there was a pattern here. The fourth body confirmed his suspicions. He also seemed to notice that there were wheel marks and strong 2 pairs of hooves. Dick's testimony only confirmed his fears. In his diary he mentions looking at wheel marks and horse hooves while talking to the cab drivers. But none of their wheels marks matched. Another reason that he suspected that the killer had been well off was that most women had money and jewelry intact on them. They also hadn't been touched as well."

"Also it seems all murders were committed nearby the Delaware estate. The carriage, the black steed all pointed at Delaware household." Sam said looking at his map.

"Yeah, exactly. So are you guys murder enthusiasts or cops or FBI?"

"Oh we are just writers. We are writing a book on the events that happened here. You seem to know a lot about what happened here. Did u write a book or something?" I asked.

"Yeah I was working on a book but I gave it up. I realized later that there are other important things" he was looking into the distance.

We followed his gaze. I realized that we were in town and that Eddie was looking at the Impala as it came to a halt. And Lydia stepped out. She seemed to be looking in this direction as well. This time it was Sam who elbowed me signaling to get going.

"Okay thanks for the info. I hope we can call on you if we need any more info?

"Oh yes please. I'll be glad to help" finally breaking his gaze from Lydia.

"Sammy, I cannot believe it that you two went on a guided tour while I was busy doing actual work?" Dean said walking towards us.

"Clam down okay we went on the tour as part of research. Yamini can you please back me up here please?"

"Yeah whatever Sam says" I said watching Lydia cross the street. "Hey is Lydia married?"

"Maybe, I don't know. Why? "

"I think there is or was cooking between Lydia and Eddie"

"Really, that's so insightful." Dean said.

"Is that sarcasm?"

"How does that even matter"

I put an exasperated expression and began walking towards a cafe. I really needed a coffee after all this information overload. My brain had a complete shutdown. Just before entering the café something caught my eye. It was a lovely looking gown. It was peacock blue in color. I could see my reflection in the store window. Well it did look fancy.

However, it was nothing compared to what my cousin wore on her engagement. She was wearing green long skirt which was heavy with golden embroidery. And she was wearing like a pink short blouse on top and a drape with embroidery as well. Then she had all jewelry on top of all that golden embroidery. She was so bright that I had to close my eyes and open them slowly to adjust my eyes to the brightness. It also hurt my eyes cause the asylum had a very low lighting and I had been there for I don't know how long. I had come back from there after visiting my brother. The scene was soul crushing to see my brother locked up. He looked pale and small. They had given him sedative to help him sleep.

"You're doing the right thing" my uncle had told me. Yeah made sense he was sleeping at least. I had convinced myself that. So there she was my cousin Maya beaming and blushing herself to glory. "You should dress up. Mom has kept your clothes on the bed. They're so gorgeous. You're gonna love them." Was this really happening? It seemed so surreal. Here I was going through the worst year of my life and these people were celebrating. You know they could do whatever they wanted but this insistence on me participating in it was frustrating. I went up to my room to find my aunt and couple of my cousin's friends waiting for me. "Oh there you are! Let's get you ready. I know, it's a little too much but honey we cannot be hung up on what has happened in the past. Now be a good girl and join us in the celebration"

With that she left me in the room. The others started to help me. I finished and saw myself. There I was, one of the girls said I was looking pretty. All I could see was that I looked like them, dolled up and plastic. This wasn't me. I had left myself in the asylum with my brother. I asked for sometime alone to myself. I was told to come early as the ceremony was about to start.

I looked at myself long and hard. I hated the girl who I saw in the mirror. It was someone who was too afraid to speak up and to tell people to cut the bullshit and just leave me alone. I wanted to cry just pull away all the make-up and jewelry. Remove these festive clothes and just curl up on my bed. But I couldn't. Cos this bed wasn't mine or this room wasn't mine. It was all charity, extended towards me and my brother by my aunt and her family. I couldn't cry cos all the makeup would wear off and they had worked so hard to make me look normal. Wow I had a hit new low while making sure people would not experience inconvenience due to me. I had to carry the charade on.

My flashback was cut short, when I realized there were two more faces staring at me in the shop window. Sam and Dean both looked concerned. I looked up and turned around. "You okay?" Sam asked.

"Of course she is. The dress is so pretty."Dean said and winked at me.

"You do have a dress for tomorrow evening?"

"I'll figure out something"

"Do you have an evening dress in that backpack of yours? Cos it's a black tie event" Sam asked smiling at me as though mocking me.

"Wow I'm out then. I forgot to pack one since I was busy doing 'real' work there"

"Well then shall we go inside?" Dean said giving me his arm.

"Wait why?"

"Cos you have been invited for a ball" Sam said.

"Yeah guys but these dresses are all fancy like its walking into Mrs Pennypacker wardrobe"

"You have to look the part. Come on in and look what the sign says they have everything for everyone" Dean said reading it and leading me inside.

So we entered the store which called itself "En Vogue". It wasn't really big and white like most chains in the city. It was small store with one of those heavy Goth designs on the pillars. It had black and red walls with golden delicate petals and flower designs. There were racks where they had all kinds of dresses on it. And there was an accessory section right at the end, a kind of one stop shop. A girl who was wearing a short tight dress one that makes you wonder how does she get in, fake blonde hair, lots of makeup and red lips came over to us. "Hey hi there, what can I do for you?" She said beaming at the guys. Typical, forget about the real customer and worry about the cute guys.

"Our friend here needs a dress for an event"

"Hey there, so what is it that you need?" She said genuinely smiling at me.

"Okay...I don't have any idea what to wear cos I've never done this before"

"Oh that's fine, I'm sure your friends and myself will help you find the best dress. So what kind of an event is this?"

"It's a black tie event at the mansion." Dean said adding in.

"Oh are you going for the salsa ball. Will you be dancing as well?"

"Yeah why not" Sam said trying not to smile.

"Yeah why not while we are at it why don't I just show up naked? So it becomes easier for people to point at me and laugh"

Both the brothers were sniggering. "Wow she plans to raise the temperature at the ball?" Dean said laughing.

"Okay...shall we get started?" said the store girl looking at us in a weird way. Clearly she did share our sense of humor. Wow, did I just say 'our' sense of humor?

"Ahem…yes please" Sam said.

As we were about to begin another customer came in. The girl excused herself and told us that she'll be with us soon. "Wow this could take a while" I said turning to look at the guys. They weren't there. "Guys" I said looking around.

"Hey try this one"

"Are u serious white? Its not her wedding Dean"

"Oh yeah let's see what u got?"

"How about this red one"

"No reds please and Ooh, am I in my very own version of 'queer eye for the straight guy' episode?"

I got the patented Winchester bitchface number 47 from both the brothers. Wow did these guys practice it or something?

"Okay I'm sorry. I really appreciate this help. I'm serious" I said smiling.

With that both vanished again, this time returning with like 5 dresses among themselves.

"Try them" they both said in unison.

Oh man I hated this part. The next hour was spent dissing, laughing or liking or even fighting by the boys over dresses I tried on. Laughing mostly at my expense cos I was making faces at every dress, pouting at the vulgar but sexy dresses that Dean had picked up and batting my eyelashes at the Miss goody-two-shoes dresses of Sam.

"Can you guys pick something that manages to show both that I'm an angel and devil at the same time? You know fitting my dynamic personality" I said raising my one eyebrow and giving a crooked smile.

"Oooh so you do know what you are looking for?" Sam said.

"Nun and hooker at the same time. Got it" Dean said.

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean.

They came back and threw a purple dress over the changing room door.

"Oh here are shoes to go with it" Sam said pushing the black sandals with heels small purple flower attached to it under the door.

"Thanks for not throwing these over"

It was an amazing dress of silk chiffon and it was fitted on top and the bottom has nice ruffles to it. It was of a decent length not too short and not long. As I strapped on my shoes and stepped out, I saw the boys look up and do a fist bump.

"That's hot!" I said looking at myself in the mirror. "What do you guys think?"

"Uhm...nice...wow nice" Sam said without looking at me.

"Yeah really...sexy" Dean said with a goofy smile.

"Dean" Sam said.

"Thanks got the feedback" I said trying to avoid my own blush rising. I had never managed to get that reaction out of any member of the opposite sex.

So after that mini makeover session we were in the Impala (Dean hates the fact I call it a car) driving towards the mansion. It had started raining and it was getting dark as well. Dean informed us that Lydia had invited us to dinner. I thought to myself, 'wow this guy really got invited a lot to dinners and lunches.' So we began comparing our notes. This was really turning out to be like a real investigation. I was using the word _real_ cos I didn't believe in curses and haunting. The only reason I was a part of this was that I had decided to have an open mind on this trip. _To go where no woman had boldly went_. Wait, wasn't that from star trek. Besides, the guys had given me some sort of an explanation for the weird marks on my legs. So where was I yeah we were sharing notes.

"So I guess I kinda figured who the woman was that Yaminee saw. It was Annabel"

"Milford's daughter. Why" I asked.

"Wow so you guys did do some research. Well it seems Milford believed that his daughter was a witch. One of the reasons being that this wasn't the first time that Delawares had seen young girls go missing and then end up dead in their vicinity. This had happened in England as well"

"That's so convenient blame it on the women folk" I said.

"Dean we spoke to someone who believes that maybe the murderer was a man" Sam interjected.

"And it still doesn't explain why sheriff is still haunting the place" I said.

All of sudden the car came to a stopped. It had stopped raining now. "Oh baby, come on now don't do this now" Dean went outside to see what was wrong with baby. I could see in the rearview mirror that a fog was forming at the end of the road. Sam went out too chek out as well. That's when I heard a spine chilling scream which wasn't human.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

There from the darkness rose the black steed. He was racing towards us with his hairs blowing in the wind. He seemed to be carrying something on his back. Could it be what Dave had said? Oh no "Hey guys…"

Before they could answer they were thrown to the side of the wind due to a strong gust of wind as the steed passed us. The boys came over

"Hey you okay?"

"Did you just see that?"

"Dean, get in and start the car and wait for my signal" Sam said getting in. "According to the legend, the sheriff always is seen following the steed"

As Sammy had predicted the leaves began to rustle again. We could hear another set of horse shoes coming towards us through the fog. This time it was Brown stallion with white hair. On top of it was a dark figure with slanting cowboy hat and there was something gleaming near his chest. He zoomed past us as well. The impala began to chase the two horses. The car came to stop because the fog had become thicker and the trail of the two horses chasing each other seem to have had ended here. Just then we heard a spine chilling scream. Dean and Sam got out.

"Guys please get back in. Let's go get the authorities" I said.

"Just wait here and lock the doors" Dean said.

I saw that Sam was bending and going around the car. I saw that he had lined the car with some white stuff. They both had opened the trunk. I opened the door and went to them.

"Whoa! You guys don't believe in gun control do you?"

"Yamini we told you to be in the car, please" Sam yelled at me.

"Okay fine" I said and went inside to sit. They closed the trunk and walked into the fog.

There I was alone in a car with the fog closing in. Then I heard gunshots and footsteps on the dry leaves. I looked at my side there was no one. I searched the other side nothing but more fog. Suddenly I realize that there someone behind me. There was indeed someone standing there behind me. All I could make out that whoever it was had a stick and a ring on his finger with snake made of green stones. The person was wearing clothes similar to Dave. I crawled to the front and decided to start the car. As I started the car, I could not see the person in the rearview mirror. I began to honk the horn to let the boys know that we needed to go. All of a sudden the driver seat window smashed and there was glass was on my lap. Something caught my hairs and pulled me out. I could not grab at the hands that were pulling me as I was being dragged through dry leaves. The dragging stopped and some force pushed me in front so i was lying face down on the blanket of dried leaves. Then I felt my hands being pulled behind my back. Was I being hogtied? I tried to see who it was from the corner of my eye but there was no one to be seen. I tried to scream but I couldn't. I was trying to yell but I just could not utter any sound. Then I saw that two metal tip shoes walking towards me. And then there was darkness.

I opened eyes to see the familiar leather hood cover of the impala.

"Hey she's up" Sam said.

"Oh great, are you okay? What happened?"

"I don't know how to explain it. I think I was attacked by someone"

"Did you see his face?"

"No I couldn't say who it was. But when you guys left me I saw a man dressed like Dave standing in front of the car. I tried starting the car. Then the next thing I know someone broke the window and pulled me out. And..."

I looked at my hands. Oh no I had rope marks on my wrists. I checked my neck.

"Oh God, it seems as though you were attacked by the murderer" Sam said.

"Was it woman? Did u see it?"

"I don't think it was a woman. In fact when it/or him/her was tying me up I saw a pair of still metal tipped shoes and cane which clearly looked like they belonged to a man"

We had reached the mansion by now. Lydia met us in the lobby.

"Oh my, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes I'm fine thank you" I said immediately.

"Shall we head for dinner?"

"You guys go ahead I'll clean up and come over"

I went upstairs to my room. I put on the lights and went to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror. I saw the striation marks on my neck as well. Oh my God was I next? What or who was that guy? Why couldn't I see someone when that thing which was pulling me out of the car and dragging me to the tree? How was saved? Did the guys save me? And then why had I blacked out? What were those brief glimpses of a horseback? It wasn't the black steed it was the Brown. Did that mean sheriff managed to save me? This was all very very scary. Had I been attacked by a ghost? I began to cry. I don't know why I was crying, was it because I was scared as hell or was it because the rational part of my brain was drawing a blank. It had no explanation to offer me so as to calm myself down.

There was a soft knock on my door. I went over the wiping my tears making sure no one knew I was crying. It was Dean. I was surprised to see him as I thought Sam would come up. He had my shopping bags.

"I'll need to take the car out to fix the window. Are you alright?"

"Yeah of course I am. Thanks. Sorry for the window."

"Why are you apologizing for something a gh..."

"It must be nice being so sure of yourself. No crisis of faith"

I took the bag from him and turned to keep it and almost wobbled. I realized the back of my foot was scratched from all the dragging. Dean came in and caught me.

"Sit here; let's have a look at you now"

"I thought only Sam was the one suffering from the Florence nightingale syndrome" I said smiling.

"Hilarious"

He brought out the first aid box and knelt in front of me. "We need to clean your foot and elbows first. Oh no you seem to have hurt your head as well. Oh please not let this be a concussion"

"What! I have a concussion!"

"Yaminee don't move let me see it first"

"How would you know if it's a concussion or not?"

"Lady I've seen one too many to know whether it is one or not" he said pulling my face near him. He had beautiful green eyes and really full lips. A shiver went through me when his breath touched my face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes" I said trying not to blush.

"Okay this doesn't look like one"

"Yeah maybe I'm just fond of passing out" I said.

After bandaging my head, he moved to my elbows. He applied antiseptic which burned like hell and Dean blew over it.

"Okay...I can handle it" I said pulling my arms from him.

"What the hell" he said picking up my feet. His hands were shockingly soft. I controlled from laughing.

"Really you're giggling"

"I never knew your hands were so soft and warm. You should be a masseuse"4 (Damnit, wait what did I just say. Maybe I did have a concussion.)

"Really" he said with that slanting smile of his. With that he moved his fingers over my foot. I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Yes I was ticklish more than I would like to agree.

"Oh Dean please stop" I said falling on the bed.

"You look pretty when you are smiling."

"Really" I said rising a little from the bed.

"Ooh please stop Dean" I was laughing so hard now. I finally stopped laughing and realized that Dean was on top of me on the bed. We both looked at each other. He was no longer looking at me in a playful manner. He inched closer, put his hands on both sides of the bed around me. Suddenly I had goose bumps and I thought there was a chill in the air. Maybe I was having cold feet. Then I could see dean's breath and saw his expression change.

"She's here"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"What...I mean who"

"Shhhh"

The lights started flickering and then they went off. I looked around to see that there was the woman I saw from yesterday coming from out of my mirror. She was wearing all black dress and there was black veil covering her face. She turned her tear stained pale white face towards me. I held Dean's arm refusing to let go. She seemed to be floating above the ground. She crossed the bed and went near the wall behind Dean. Turned towards us and started coming close to me and Dean. As she came close to me I heard a loud bang from a gun.

"Aaaahhhhh..."

"I'm sorry" Dean said putting back the gun he just fired.

"Are you okay?"

"No I'm not. What the hell Dean, a little warning would have helped. Why the hell did you fire a gun anyways? She's a ghost"

"Hey it worked didn't it. And a little thank you would have been enough." He said rising and turning away from me.

"Yeah, thanks I guess. Oh my God! What are we gonna say when someone comes over. You know asking about the bang."

"Nothing. It was from outside" Dean said matter of factly.

He was now touching the same wall that the ghost of Annabel Milford was touching. "Uh...what are you doing?"

"She was here. I think she wanted to show us something"

"Oh really" I said not believing him. "Well I'm hungry and I'm going downstairs to get some dinner" I said rising from my bed. As I got up I realized I couldn't stand properly and I ended up falling on Dean. "Owww...I'm sorry"

"Don't be" Dean said looking down. A small hatch had opened up at the bottom of the wall. We both bent down to see it. It was a small niche.

"Okay I'm gonna pry it open and then you put your hand in there and see if there's anything inside"

"Cool"

Dean lifted the niche by wedging a knife and I put my hand in to retrieve whatever was on the inside. My hands could feel something like a book.

"It's a book or something" I said dusting the thing. "Oh my, it's her diary. It's Annabel's diary"

"Wow great work guys" Sam said looking at the diary. We had come back into the boys' room with the diary.

"Oh thank the concussion queen here" Dean said taking swig of his beer.

"Ha-ha, Very funny Dean! Well it's an interesting read. She is a regular girl of 1800s. All prim and proper, respectable and God-fearing who going around in the right circles. It's like reading the diary of Rose Dawson from 'Titanic'. But look at the entry of 15th January."

"The date of the first disappearance" Sam said.

"Exactly, she sounds disturbed. She says _'oh God, I thought we had left it all behind England. It seems to have followed us here_'...now read two weeks later."

"_'Today father told us about another girl who went missing. He looked concerned. He was having sleepless nights. I could hear him walking outside my room. One night I saw him leave the house with a gun in his hand. I ought to find out what was going on'"_

"See here we can see that Milford was worried sick about the whole situation. Now read what happens after the third girl's body is found?"

"_'Oh God what should I do. Shall I tell father or not? The blood is on our family's hands now. It's on my hands as well. How can it be? We are a perfect family. I was good girl. Things were so much better until I didn't find out the truth. Let's hope he keeps his promise'_"

"Okay does this mean it's her? Or is it pointing a finger at someone else in the family?"

"Yeah, well we know that soon Sammy if you figure a way to open the rest of the pages since they are stuck together. We tried to open them but..."

He said pointing to a tear in the page.

"What did you find out?" I asked.

"Well I guess you were right Yamini. Eddie and Lydia were seeing each other during his research on the book. Lydia was angry after she read his manuscript. It was a breach of trust for her according to her. She told him about the secrets of her family and he went and he wrote it in the book. Also she told me that they found an altar in the attic during Eddie's time here. Right above this room"

"Wow that's intense. Do you think he knows something more about this haunting? Remember he told us something about something's being more important than fame. Oh man I don't feel so good"

"Yeah you right. She said he said that it wasn't Annabel but one of the men. She was really angry at that...are u okay? Yamini"

I got up and ran towards the bathroom.

After what felt like an eternity of throwing up I stepped out to find two very concerned faces looking at me.

"Hey boys its okay. I'm alright. Maybe it's just too much stress. Plus Dean, you said it's not a concussion."

"Okay that does it lady. You're staying back here tomorrow and we will send in the doctor."

"Nooo, please I wanna go with you guys. Plus you know my room is haunted"

"Stop arguing Yaminee. You'll be staying here in our room." Dean said.

"Who died and made you the boss here?"

"Yeah real mature Yaminee"

"Yamini Dean's right. You'll be safe here. You need some rest anyways. We'll keep checking on you" Sam said with concern on his face.

"Fine be like that both of you"

I huffed and puffed and finally sleep took over.

When I awoke, I was in a shower. It was cold. I closed the shower and stepped out to find that I was in a locker room. I saw that one lockers was open. I went over to it and pulled out a pair pants and t-shirt. As I finished wearing the clothes I heard someone calling me.

"Yamini...Yamini...Guys where are you"

I stepped out into the hallway. I remembered this place. It was my brother's college. I had come here to leave him with mom and dad. I had come after that a countless number of times after that as well. I saw a girl with a black hoodie pulled over on gym pants and sport shoes. I called out "hey...wait up"

As I went close to her she started running away from me. "Please wait. I just want to know where am I"

I was chasing her and she was sprinting now. Finally she stopped at the end of the hallway. And walked in a room next to her. I followed her as pushed the door to the open. I found her hoodie on the floor. As I bent down to pick it up. I saw her standing in front of me. She was wet and what was the smell. Her mascara was was running down her face. "He's gonna get you, just the same way he got me. Your brother was smart he moved away. Now it's your turn. What will you do? aaaahhhh"

Suddenly she was on fire. "It hurts at firssssst then it's all goodssss" she said in **his** voice. She changed into him. I fell back and got up and started to run out the door. As I came in the hallway I heard my name again "Yamini...please save me." It was Yash. The voice was coming from the opposite door. I went over there but the door was locked. I cleared the fog on the door screen and saw that Yash was facing me. "Yash open the door." He just smiled at me and said "go"

"No open the door...please"

"It's too late for me...you go"

We suddenly heard the room behind me open up. He looked at me with worry and hopelessness in his eyes.

"Go..go...get out" he yelled at me. I saw white pale hands creeping up from behind him and pulling him back. I heard his familiar laugh again. He was out. "Go...please save yourself" and Yash was pulled into the darkness of the room.

"Nooo" I left the door and started running towards the end of the hallway. I ran towards the doors which led outside. I reached for them and looked back to see the entire place was on fire and he was running towards me. I opened the doors...and there was light…..

I got up and realized I was sweating profusely. I saw that I was alone the boys had probably went out. Then I looked for the watch as outside it was too bright for early morning. It was 12 am. Wow really, I got up to wash my face. My throat was hurting like I was holding back tears. I came out of the bathroom and saw that the door had opened. It was Sam and Dean with breakfast for me. They looked concerned as they placed their stuff on the table.

"Hey you okay?"Dean asked.

It was as if someone they had thrown that hot coffee on my face. I began to cry. No crying won't be the word I was not the word here. I was balling my heart out uncontrollably. They both rushed over, Dean was near my feet holding my hands and Sam was next to me holding me. Both were just holding me. I knew why was I crying so hard. The dream had made me realize that maybe I had abandoned my brother. Left him in a madhouse rather than helping him fight his demons.

"Yamini, it's okay. What happened?" Sam kept saying.  
"Shhh...it was just dream" Dean said.

After a few minutes I realized this thought was never gonna leave me alone. _Get up and stop being such a girl. Get a hold of_  
_yourself and get up. _I wiped my face and straighten myself. Then I released my hands from Dean and myself from Sammy's huge arms.

"After that awkward moment can I have something to eat. I think I get really cranky when I'm hungry" I said smiling again. The boys also gained their composure.

"You okay?" Sam asked.  
"Of course I am. I'm really sorry for that."  
"That's fine"

They both were looking as though I was a ticking time bomb. "Guys I'm sorry okay. Please can you not look at me like that."

Dean was the first to break the silence. "So tonight's the ball"

"Oh yeah"

"Who's going? I know I'm not"

"Sammy why not?"

"Cos it's a ball Dean that means you are expected to dance."

"So? "

"Hey don't I get to choose"

"No way lady after all that money spent on your shopping. You're going"

"Speaking of shopping, how come you guys knew what to buy?"

Both boys went red in the face. "Well...huh...it's a part of the job. You know you have to look the part you're about to play. Its  
elementary" Dean said smirking.

"We still haven't decided who goes?"

"How about all three of us. There is a lotta ground to cover."

"Yeah she's right I have a feeling that the ghost might strike tonight"

"Why cos he emailed u?" Dean asked smiling.

"No because I was talking to Eddie in the morning and he said that he did know about the family curse. He thought one of the  
reasons that Milford figured it was witchcraft was when the priest told him that the murders were committed on a no moon night.  
And tonight is one such night"

"But shouldn't it be an open and shut case. We have found that she was attached to her diary. Can't we just salt and burn that?"

"Well we aren't really sure that it was her"

"I mean we still don't know who attacked you in the forest?"

"Also why is the sheriff still hanging around?" Dean said.

Great, it seemed that we were still no where near to solving this 100 year old puzzle. I got up and went to the window. I could see  
the road that had brought us here. There was a sign that read 'Milford family graveyard. 2 miles ahead'  
"Have we looked at the rest of the family yet?"

As I turned around I saw Lydia was there with another woman.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

So after a lot of 'treatment' on hair and skin, they declared "you're done and look at results".

It felt like an eternity and all i could think of was 'Yeah, 3-4 hours I would never get. Wait how long was I here, cos when I went out it was almost getting dark. Okay so I did look nice but it took too long.'

I looked around and saw three huge portraits of 2 men and a child. It seemed like the 1800s version of two and half men.

"Excuse me are these portraits of one person?"

"Oh no they're the portraits of Mr Milford that's the guy with the whiskers and that his elder son Adam. The child is his youngest son Sebastian"

I saw that Milford had a walking stick and shoes similar to guy who had tried to attack me. But there was something, which made me realize that it couldn't have been Harry while looking at his portrait. Another weird part was that all there was a striking resemblance between Milford and his elder son.

"Do you need any help with the dress or makeup?" My beauty therapist Marla asked.

"Excuse me, who is paying for all this?" I just had to ask.

"Oh Miss, this is compliments of the hotel. Miss Lydia says you and the boys are helping us with ...er...our recent problems"

"Oh is that so...actually I would like to get some help on the makeup"

So another hour later there was a knock on my door. I opened the door while Marla cleared the room. Wow I wasn't ready for what I was staring at. Both the boys' nah men looked stunning. They were handsome as hell and I was gaping at them with my mouth open. I closed my mouth only to realize that the boys were mimicking me as well with their mouths open.

"You guys are such jerks"

They gave me the 'Bitch-be-crazy' look.

"Why?" Dean said in his usual nonchalant voice.

"You were mocking me right now"

"No Yamini, we were just ...ow…why would you do that" Sam scowled at Dean.

"Yeah...mocking you. Let's go shall we" he said offering me his arm.

So we three began our descent towards the ballroom. It was elaborately decorated and dimly lit round hall. We were waved at by Mrs Pennypacker-Vandalay. "Hi there! Oh my you two look gorgeous. Almost like a couple. Oooh and who is this gentleman?"

"Oh thanks, that's our other research associate, Sam Devlin"

"Hi my name is Mrs Pennypacker-Vandalay. Please call me Honey. It seems you're alone here. Please do sit with me" she said holding Sam's arm. Sam looked shocked and flashed his 'please save me' look at us.

"The cougar has sunk her claws now" I whispered to Sam and winked at him.

"Oh the dance has begun you must join me Sam" she said pulling him out of his chair.

"We should do something"

"No this is classic" Dean said laughing.

"Dean, don't be so cruel"

"Please she's a complete woman. If nothing else Sammy can learn a few things from her. He'll enjoy himself a little and so should you" he said wiggling his eyebrows at me.

I looked up to see that Sam was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey where's Sam?" We both looked around and suddenly he came up from behind Dean.

"Hey guys, ah I think I've had a breakthrough with the last pages of Annabel's diary. I'll come back soon" he patted Dean. "…and Dean enjoy yourself".

With that he disappeared.

"Okay what the hell was that?" Dean said looking at the slowly disappearing image of Sam. Suddenly there was light thrown into our faces.

"Ladies & gentleman, every year we choose two couples to share the dance floor. These couples are chosen randomly by our focus lights. So will the two couples stand up and please come to the dance floor."

I was frozen. Did they actually mean that? I looked at Dean and he was trying to hide how scared he was. He put up his brave face on. Unfortunately, I knew what that meant.

"Well if the crowd wants it. Come on." Dean said extending his hands to me. I just took it cos that what seemed to be the right thing then. As I placed my hand on his a slow song began. He pulled me towards himself. My hands were on his chest.

"Follow my lead" Dean whispered. "I'm sure Sammy's behind this. But he is in for a surprise of his sorry life" he said hoarse voice which I thought very sexy.

Before I could think anything else he slipped his hand under my waist. He really knew what he was doing. Then he gracefully pushed me away from him only to pull me close while turning me around. My dance teacher had told me that it's very important to have a strong lead. Well she seemed to have met Dean Winchester. Now we were front and back. He brushed his hand over my arm and nuzzled his head into my neck while his other hand turned me to face him now. I could see the same look in his eyes which I had seen the night before of need and lust. I pressed closer and he put his hand on my thigh. He pulled up my leg. I seemed to have forgotten that we were in a ballroom full of people. Because I locked my one raised leg behind him and placed a hand on his full lips. He kissed them. We were snapped out of lust driven high when we heard people clapped at our performance. Then there lights came back.

Dean went to get us drinks. I was standing there looking at the three pictures of the three men of the family. Something in their pictures had struck me.

"Fascinating isn't it?" Lydia said handing me my drinks. "Yeah, what happened to Adam and Sebastian afterwards?"

"Well Adam was sent to England and he died there in few months. He was really close to Annabel. She dotted on him. You see she and him were real brother sister. Unlike Sebastian who was their step brother"

"How did Mr Milford die?"

"He committed suicide 2 weeks after Annabel's death. Mrs Milford looked after all the business and the estate".

I was looking at Adam Milford's portrait. At first glance both Harry and Adam looked almost alike the same clothes, shoes and frankly the same face as well. But there were subtle differences like Adam's hat was lopsided, the chain on his vest coat, his eyes were blood shot red and very pale face and thin long bony hands. Wait what was that on his hands. Unexpectedly, the world started was spinning around me.

I opened my eyes to see that I was being dragged through dirt. Finally the dragging stopped.

"Adam I've brought what you asked for" I looked up to see the owner of this familiar female voice. It was Lydia.

"Lydia, where am I? And who are you talking to?" I saw that my hands were tied and Lydia was trying to push the lid of something.

As I turned around I saw that we were in a cemetery. This must be the Milford family cemetery. I was near some black and round structure made out of stone and I could hear the sea not far from here. Wait had she said Adam? Suddenly there was lightning and thunder. Then there was thud sound right behind me.

"Come on rise Adam. I've brought her. Why won't you rise? oh yes the blood of the victim?"

She pulled out a knife and with a clean sweep she slit my cheek. She looked at it and threw the dagger inside the well. The well started to rumble. I knew that I was supposed to do something but I was frozen with fear. This woman wasn't in her right mind. Finally, I managed to kick Lydia who was coming close to me to raise me up. She fell back and I got up on my feet. I began to run through dark woods. Then something struck me. Adam...it was Adam Milford who was there that night near the car. The ring with a snake made of green crystals. It was him but why was Lydia calling and did she mean I was the sacrifice. As I was running I fell down as something caught my leg. I realized that my legs were caught in tree roots. As I tried untangling my legs I couldn't believe what I saw the roots were now pulling me towards the tree. I was kicking hard that's when I heard the engine of the impala. I finally screamed,

"Sam...Dean! ! I'm here"

The tree pulled me closer and I saw that there were hands that were coming out of the tree's gaping dark hole.

"Sam ...Dean!"

The tree had pulled me closer to itself and the hands had covered my mouth. I saw Sam and Dean coming there but they couldn't see me.

"Yaminee!" I heard Dean was yelling. "Let's try there"

I tried to scream but the hands were covering my mouth tightly. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and that is when I saw the same eerie figure of Adam Milford walking towards me. The same tilted long hat, the walking stick, his ring and metal tipped boots walking towards me.

"Shhhh...They can't hear you Miss. It's just you and me now" he smiled showing his yellow decaying teeth.

He touched my face with his pale grey hands. Suddenly he raised his hand and stopped the raised iron rod that Dean was holding.

Adam screamed "aaaahhhh ...iron Nooo".

Sam looked at me but seem to be searching. "Yamini are you in there?"

Meanwhile I had managed to free one of my legs free. I banged on the invisible screen.

"Okay I can hear you"

"Where is she?"

"She's inside this tree hole"

"What...why can't I see her?"

"It seems like some kind of spell or something because of which we can't see her"

"Do you think its Annabel?"

"No Dean, Annabel wasn't the witch. She was framed by Adam"

"That was Adam then"

"Sam, Dean. Am I glad to see you two" it was Lydia.

"Lydia! What are you doing here?"

"He...he, Adam got me here."

"Oh no Lydia you are hurt" Dean said. "Where is he?"

"I'll show where he is"

"Sam go, with her and break the spell" Sam nodded and went with her.

The phantom hands had now caught my legs again. I had never felt so helpless.

"Lydia!" it was Eddie. He had a book in his hand.

"Who are you?" Dean asked in his gruff voice.

"You must be Dean, Sam's brother. I'm Eddie"

"I saw Lydia coming here and I thought she could be in trouble. She dropped this on her way. I followed her here"

"Can I see that?" Dean said taking the book from his hand.

"Are you searching for Lydia as well? Oh my God how could I have never seen this?" He said pointing right above my head.

"Maybe this mystery did have witchcraft angle after all"

"Oh yeah this symbol" Dean said peering again. That's when Eddie was pushed across and banged into a tree. Adam appeared right behind Dean now.

"May I have it back?"

"No"

"Very well then"

He moved his two fingers up and Dean was carried up and he was hanging upside down. He caught the book that fell from Dean's pocket. He opened the book and started to read. I could see storm clouds brewing over his head. I felt all the hands that were covering me came loose except ones on my mouth. "Take his stick Yaminee!" Dean yelled. As my hands came loose I took the stick from Adam while was looking up at Dean. I opened the stick to see a sword like thing come out.

I stabbed him with it. With that he screamed and vanished. As Adam vanished Dean fell to the ground and I was released from the hands. Dean got up to his feet and picked me up. Then we went to Eddie. He was knocked out. "Lydia! She's the one who brought him back". Dean seemed like he had seen a ghost.

"OH no Sam, let's go" I said pulling him.

"The book is Celtic spells. You were the last sacrifice and he would be immortal."

"Does it say how we kill it?" I asked. "Yeah it says that we need to kill it with the blood of the witch that raised him"

"Let's go find Sam"

We began walking through the dark woods towards the cemetery.

"So it was Adam all this time?" I asked.

"Yes he was the one who got obsessed with the occult. He framed Annabel for the murders. Harry killed Annabel thinking it was her."

Suddenly Dean put a finger on his lips and stooped low and motioned me to do the same. He pointed towards something ahead of me. Sam was tied to a tree with blood trickling down his forehead. "Oh no, now what?" I whispered.

"Okay I'm gonna go there in the middle cos she's hiding somewhere waiting for us. So once I go there she'll attack me and then you go save Sam."

"Nooo you will get hurt."

"Do you have a better plan?"

"Not really"

"Great then follow my lead"

Dean went right towards where Sam was tied up. Just as Dean had said Lydia attacked him with a log of wood in her hands. As Dean was fighting her which seemed really weird to say cos she was half his size but she was putting up quite a resistance. She looked like under a trance or something. I went up to Sam and cut the rope with the sword I got from Adam's...ghost.

"You... how did you get it?" she asked me and with this she lunged towards me pushing Dean away from her. But then she stopped midway as I heard a gun go off. She fell on the ground.

"Yaminee use the sword on her and draw blood from her" Dean yelled.

I went over to her. I saw her she was still breathing but her there was a dark red spot forming near her lower back. "How" I asked with my hands shaking violently. Sam took the sword from my hand a cut across the back left hand.

"Yaminee, go ahead near that tree where you were trapped. He'll come there for you" he said pushing me towards the direction.

"Sam are you serious? She's scared out of her wits" Dean yelled.

"That's only way Adam will come out" Sam said.

I walked towards the dark foreboding woods again. As I went closer to the grisly tree I heard the familiar footsteps on the dry foliage. I felt a chill up my spine. Suddenly I felt something tugging my neck. I was pulled up suddenly while I struggled for the breath. I was spinning around as the noose grew tighter, I could see the other girls tied to this same tree and who faced the similar fate to me. I could see him now as he swiftly approach the spot beneath where I was hanging. "The lesser you move the easier it becomes" he said in refined voice.

He started chanting again when Dean attacked him with the sword drenched in Lydia's blood and slashed his throat swiftly. He was croaking now struggling for a breath and meeting a somewhat similar end as his victims had met. Choking and gasping for breath. He started to turn to ember and with a strong wind he just vanished into thin air. I fell down and Sam caught me. "We need to find his remains. This ritual on sends to soul back but if we destroy the remains he can never be summoned back."

"Are you okay?" Dean said.

"I've been better" I said touching my neck "I know where he's buried" and with that I ran towards the cemetery and went straight up the hill where the dark well was.

"I think he's here. I'm guessing that Harry found about Adam being the main killer. This is where Lydia brought me too after she drugged me. She was talking to Adam when she brought me here"

All three of us look down that pitch dark hole of the well and then looked at each other.

"Well let's toss about this?"

"Oh I'm out of this" I said "I've had a wild night and don't need any more excitement."

With this I fetched a coin and Sam was selected to go down much to his dismay. Me and Dean were now looking out to a breath taking view of the sea as we walked pass the well. The moon was clear and the waves crashed on the rocks below.

"I hope it's over cos I'm dead tired" Dean said looking at me.

"Yeah I hope it's over" I said feeling content and sad at the same time.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Hey guys, this will be my post for at least week as i'm going on a vacation. Guys please review and let me know how you like it so far.**

**Chapter 14**

We were heading back to the mansion. Eddie had taken Lydia to the hospital. So we had taken the long road back. It was so funny a road which had scared the living daylights out of me a while ago, now seemed like a pleasant starlit walk where you could hear the ocean in the background. I realized that Dean's hand was touching mine and Sam hand had snaked his arm around my waist. I looked at dean who smiled at me genuinely at me and then I looked at Sam who gave me a slanted smile. What the hell was happening? Did they both know that they were trying to hold me at the same time? Should I panic now and start to run home before the two began a fight over me? Or even worse they approach me with this question? No please, just go with the flow stop killing the buzz here. It started drizzling and soon the drizzling changed to a downpour. The three of us took a shelter under a big tree and waited for the rain to ease out a little. After sometime we realized that the rain would not ease any time soon.

"Hey what's that" I said pointing towards a cabin that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"The last one to reach there is loser" Dean said running towards it.

I and Sam began run towards the cabin as well. It was a typical cabin made out of logs of wood but what made it different was when we zoomed inside through the open door. It was dimly lit, warm and cozy. It looked straight out of brochure for country homes. In fact it kind of reminded me of my uncle's cabin.

As we entered inside, Sam closed the door behind him. All three of us were equally drenched. The million dollar question was which one of us was going to 'dry up' first. I opened my hair and sat in front of the fire hoping to dry out. I caught that Dean & Sam were checking me out from where they were sitting and standing.

"Sorry" they both said together and both blush a little.

"Aww how cute? Come on over here. Both of you" I said patting the spots near me on both sides.

They both sat next to me. Sam placed his hand on mine. On the other hand, I sensed Dean was putting his hand through my hair. He gently touched my cheek while Sam squeezed my hand a little. My heart skipped a beat. I looked at Sam and then realized Dean was nuzzling into my neck. Sam inched forward towards me and my lips parted and then kissed me gently. This was wrong on so many levels but it felt so good that I was ecstatic. A part of me always wanted this which was really weird.

Dean pulled the straps of my dress down. Sam's hands were on my knees pushing my dress up. I straightened my legs around Sam so that he was between them. Dean was kissing my back now and as he did that my back arched forward. Sam was now kissing my jaw line and neck. Dean had moved to the front kissing my stomach now. My hands were in their heads holding them and enjoying this. The room started changing; the lights went out and so did the fire. We plunged into darkness but they boys were still going at it. The door opened with a bang. Outside I could hear two voices whispering to me.

"Sam, Dean...guys" I tried to shake them.

"Oww Sam that hurts" I said to Sam and pushed him away and he had blood on his face.

I pushed away Dean too. Both brothers stood up and looked at me with their blood smeared faces.

"Oh God what happened" I asked. They were inching towards me now. I dragged myself to my feet and turned around to run. As i tried to run, Dean caught my hair pulled me back and I screamed.

"The party just started Yamini" Sam said licking my neck. Tears were rolling down my cheeks now.

"Oh come now, you know you like this" Dean said biting the other side of my neck.

"Aaah! Who are you and what have you done to Sam and Dean? You can't be Sam and Dean" I asked looking into Sam's eyes.

"Really you don't see who I am...thatssss ssssad Yamini. I thought we had sssssomething here". I saw Sam change into the hideous man from my dream.

His face was burnt out. He had small sharp teeth and he wore a hat and a Poncho. "I've been waiting for yousssss"

"Wake up...wake up...wake up" I kept saying to myself. He looked at me and his eyes changed to fiery red. Dean had vanished, the dream turned into a nightmare. I was crying hard now.

"Let me go!" I screamed.

"Of course" he said. He said by pulling out a dagger.

"But before you leave let me give you a gift. This is going to be eassssssier than I thought" He raised his dagger and slit my wrists. I fell to the floor and then there was a light on my face….


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Well it's clear now that wasn't the ghost that attacked her" Dean whispered.

"But we go by this story to the doctors that she was attacked by Lydia...okay" Sam said.

"Do you think she's disturbed...you know like suicidal or something".

I was listening to this hushed conversation. I felt very bad about putting these boys through this. After a while I got up from the bed looked at my bandaged hands.

"Hey you are up" Sam said. I just smiled weakly.

"We will leave in a bit" Dean said looking smilingly at me.

I quietly got up and changed from my hospital clothes. After a while we were out of signing out. None of us had said a word to each other since I got up. The brothers kept looking at each other from time to time.

"Here take my jacket." Dean said handing his jacket. I couldn't even look at him.

"I'm hungry. Let's get some grub" Dean said.

After driving for a while we came to a sea facing diner. The smell of really good straight off the barbeque burgers and hot pie came wafting through as we opened the doors of the diner. I realized how hungry I was. We got a corner booth right at the end. The view was amazing: the grey sky, the sea and the sand and the green grass lining the beach. I saw the first raindrops on the window pane. You know many people considered this quiet melancholy atmosphere but for me it brought back happy memories when my family had went to the beach and we saw it was about to rain. Me and Yash were crestfallen at this but my dad had said "hey if we came here for a picnic we are having one." We played beach volleyball and swam in the sea and had ice creams and all of this on a cloudy skies and some sprinkling rain.

"Yaminee! What do you want to eat?" My reverie was broken and I saw Dean, Sam and the waitress looking at me.

"I'll have a cheeseburger and do you have ice-cream? I'll have that too." She left to get our orders.

"Ice-cream, really" Dean said.

"Yeah, I wanna feel all warm and nice. What are you guys getting?"

"Sammy ordered goat food"

"It's not goat food. Okay Dean"

"Oh yeah tell her what you ordered?"

"Goat cheese salad"

"Really, Sam goat cheese" I said.

"What's wrong with goat cheese?"

"It stinks" I said.

"It's good for you"

"What about you?" I asked looking at Dean.

"Clam chowder"

"Oooh nice. That's man food now" I said winking at Dean.

"I'm glad you haven't lost your appetite" Dean said smiling like he had smiled at me in...

I must have really blushed my way to glory because both of them were giving me awkward looks. Luckily the waitress brought our food and we were busy eating it. I was quiet again and kept looking outside.

"Do you want to go outside?" Sam asked looking at me.

"Yes" I replied. Wait why had I said that?

"Okay then let's go" Dean said getting up. I followed dean outside. Why was he doing this? Why was I doing this? This was all so random. So it was me and Dean who came out and Sam decided that he was going to stay in taking care of our belongings.

"Let's race to the beach" Dean said.

We both ran to the beach, I felt the rain on my cheeks. It felt nice and refreshed. I was the first one to reach the beach. I was suddenly swept off my feet when Dean lifted me up and turned me around. After that we both crashed on the sand. Was this a Mariah Carey video where the handsome guy picked up Carey and twirled her around? I didn't know the answer and frankly didn't want to know. The grey clouds parted and the sunlight was pouring through.

"Let's go" I said indicating the sea.

"Are you serious?"

"Why are you chicken Winchester" I said running towards the waves. In the distance I saw that many other people from the diner who were joining us as the sun had come out properly. Wow, this was turning out to be like a Sheryl Crow video. I also saw our very own giant joining us as well.

"Sam, over here!" With that I was tackled into the waves.

"Why" I said rising and hitting Dean who was looking very hot with his shirt off.

"Cos you said am I a chicken" Dean said.

We both then crashed into water again. This time it was Sam who had pushed us into the waves. As we three tried to stand up again, a huge wave washed over us.

"That one was totally unexpected." Sam said rising from the water. Me and Dean both looked at him as he saw that he was wearing long swimming trunks. "When did you put those on?" Dean asked.

"Huh...yeah were you wearing those already" I said blushing. God I had to stop that.

"Okay Yaminee, you have to tell us about this whole situation here" he said pointing vaguely to my face. I wasn't ready for this question not after the dream which later had turned into a nightmare.

"Yeah, what's up with that? Since you have woken up and even in the diner you just were avoiding all eye contact."

Oh God what could I say. I was sure I was blushing again because they were still concerned. Lie...Lie...Lie...oh my god i have waited too long oh come on just just say something at least.

"I really like you guys..." I said inching towards them. "And I really love you guys and I'm really sorry for this" with this I pushed them into another wave and ran towards the shore.

After a fun time of pushing and pulling, I realized that my recent bandage was stinging like hell because of the saltwater. I was about to sit inside of the impala to change it when Dean came running towards me and said "It's..."

"Genuine leather seats" I said getting up.

"Dean what's wrong with you?" Sam said.

"That's okay. Can I sit on the hood and could you pass my bag?"

"I think we will have to re-bandage that." Sam said pointing towards my wrists.

I opened my bag to realize that I really needed to go do my laundry. That also meant that there wasn't anything to wear because half of my clothes had blood stains on them. Wow, I had really gotten hurt a lot during this trip. I would have to walk my way cos there was no way Dean would let me sit inside the Impala all wet.

"Problem" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I missed laundry round at the hotel and…"

I showed him that most of my pants were torn or had blood marks on them.

"Wait here" he said running away from me.

"What's he doing?" Sam said coming over. We both were looking at Dean in the distance talking to 2 girls. They were looking at us and then they went somewhere. We saw Dean coming back waving something at us. He came over and handed me a really short pant. It was brand new pair of 'hot pants'. "What's this?" I said picking them up.

"Pants"

"Really, where are the rest of them?"

"Hey come on those girls were nice enough to give you their pants. And here's my shirt. You're welcome"

"Oh man did they use these" I said making a face.

"No, in fact the girl who I borrowed it from said she just bought them over at Rosewood"

"Fine thanks"

So we all changed in and around the impala. The boys went to diner again. I went in through the door and the diner went quiet. It seemed that the college crowd on their summer break had suddenly descended on the diner and now they were all looking at me. As I walked over to boy's booth, I heard hooting and cat calls behind me. I was red in the face for two reasons; one was the fact that Dean was looking at me with his mouth open and second reason was that I was really angry at the catcalls. The last part was just my feminist side talking cos the rest of me really seemed to be celebrating since no one had ever done that to me. Dean just pushed inside and offered me a place next to him. As I sat down next to Dean the entire place went quiet. I was really amazed at that. Dean gave me his patented slanting smiles. I was floored right there. Oh man I had to get a grip on myself. What was happening to me? Our staring contest was broken when the waitress came over with a vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. It had two spoons in it.

"Hey excuse me" I said about to point out that she had messed up my order when Dean placed his hand on mine. "It's okay I ordered that"

"Yes, oh look at that isn't that sweet? Hope you love birds like it" the waitress said.

"Wait why did she say that?" I said looking at us. I realized that Dean had his arms behind my seat. It was a classic couple's pose. Well happy coincidence. I blushed at myself again. I hated myself for this. Then the thoughts of my last night's erotica washed over me.

"See there you're doing it again" Sam said sitting in front of us with a first aid box.

"Come on Yaminee, we wanna know" Dean said and disabled me with his dazzling smile.

"Oh okay...first don't look at me" with this the guys started looking elsewhere.

"So I dreamt that I was in a threesome"

"Okay...I can guess the who the rest of cast members were" Dean said exchanging meaningful glances with his brother. Then Sam made a Bitchface at him. He seemed clearly embarrassed at this particular revelation but Dean was just smug.

"Were we so bad that you had to cut your wrists" Dean said smiling.

"Wait was it consensual?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Sam don't be a buzz kill. Of course it was. No woman can resist this" Dean said flashing us a cocky smile. Just then we heard loud sound of music coming through the diner as one of guys had gone over and turned on the jukebox. The song was "everybody loves me" and Dean said "story of my life".

With this I and Sam broke into laughter. After sometime we left the diner. The evening shadows were creeping again. We found nice motel and parked ourselves there. Sam found out that there was a Laundromat close by. The three of us headed out for laundry and dinner. We loaded the machines and headed out to a bar close by. As we were walking towards the bar a girl came towards us and asked for a light. Dean and Sam just shrugged their shoulders but I felt something in my pocket. It was a lighter. I clicked it and gave to the girl. She thanked me and left. I turned around to see that both guys were looking at me as though I had just given the girl 10gms of cocaine.

"What?" I said going inside.

"You smoke?" Dean asked.

I sat down and said "no of course not"

"Really then what's with the lighter?"

"It's not mine and before you ask its long story for sometime else."

"Today's specials are ribs" the blond waitress.

"Great let's order that." I said.

The brothers exchanged glances and Dean said "you know what great choice. Let's order drinks as well." He was grinning now. So after two vodka cranberry and one dark rum I felt little too talkative than usual. It was the worse combination of drinks and on top of that the ribs were taking suspiciously long. I should have guessed, Dean had excused himself and I saw him talking to the waitress.

"These ribs are gonna take some time." Dean said.

"That's...exactly what I was gonna say" I said pointing fingers at them.

"How about you tell us your long story of the lighter?"Sam said looking at Dean.

"What about it? You know you two think you're real smart. Getting me drunk and asking me about my brother's lighter"

"No, we would never do that. So how did you get it?" Dean said.

"Really, I ain't telling you that I conf...Confiscated it from ...him"

"You're really smart Yaminee. So he smoked" Sam said.

"Yeah why else would he have it ...idiots? He was doing a lot other things. Fighting with dad, becoming a recluse (than he normally was) and hanging out with the wrong sorts"

"Fighting? Why?"

"Cos dad never listened. So did mom, so did the counselor. He said no one ever listened…..really listened"

"What was he saying?"

"He was really getting angry and upset you know. I don't know… something about a girl but it didn't matter cause dad thought he was smoking pot as many people did in college. But dad...didn't like Yash hanging out with that girl"

"Which girl?"

"He thought she was weird. Why you ask...cos she dressed like a Goth and yes I agree a little weird but who isn't. You know what I should have said this then. Stood up and sided with him. Shouldn't have left him alone."

I flipped open the lighter and saw its flame. Dean closed it and looked at me.

"You know what he said to me once. That he was screaming in a room full of people but no one was listening. I couldn't make sense of what he was saying. So I guess I just stifled it. So I could continue be the nice girl. The approval of others mattered more than my own brother."

I took the glass of whiskey from Dean's hand and downed the whole thing. I thought I was done pouring my heart out.

"I was the younger one here. He was supposed to be there. All of this stuff that was happening was too big for me. I was tired of being there for him. Holding his hand and telling him it would be fine. Cos somewhere I knew I was lying to myself. He had strange dreams too where he woke up with scars. But the doctor's told me he was suicidal. I knew that wasn't true he wasn't a coward. There are you guys happy now? Now you know all of me. Now you see me as I really am; broken & battered. A girl who lost everything and everyone she ever cared for. The only thing keeping me alive is the fact that I'm too much of coward to commit suicide" with tears rolling off my cheeks that I walked off.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

I was walking towards I don't know where. They had no right to do this. To ask me all those questions. Who were they? They had no idea of the floodgates that they had opened. Who was I kidding? Was it really them or was it me? I had all this stuff very closer to the surface all it needed was someone to come and scratch over and they could see this sea of darkness and despair. These nightmares and these memories would always haunt me. This was the reason why I had chosen to leave everything and go to Africa. I had thought that by helping people, I was trying to feel good about myself and I was desperately trying to fill this emptiness inside of me. I was trying everything new in my life to run away from my past; from who I really was, the girl who abandoned her brother. I wanted to change who I was so as to give a desperate excuse that maybe my life was worth living. It wasn't and it would never be.

I came to my senses when I was blinded by white light. I never realized that I had come in front of a car. I hid my eyes with the back of my hand. The car stopped right before me as I heard Dean scream my name "Yamineeee!."

"Yamini! Is that really you? Oh my God. I had never thought I could find you" the man from the driver's seat of the car. The man's voice sounded vaguely familiar but I couldn't see his face due to the headlight. Dean and the other man picked me up from the middle of the road and made me sit on the hood of the Impala. Finally, I could see his face and it was the familiar face of my uncle Vijay. "Uncle..." I could not believe it was him. I mean you don't think that of all the people who you could crash (sorry wrong choice of words) into - your uncle. Dean helped me off my feet.

"Did you just call the guy uncle?"

"Yeah. This is my uncle Vijay. This Dean Winchester. He and his brother Sam have saved my life countless number of times. What are you doing here?" I asked Uncle.

"Well I was just heading back home to San Diego. It's a two hour drive from here. I was here for a conference. Anyways - What are you doing here in the middle of the road? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine uncle please."

"Where are you staying?"

My uncle was someone who I was really close to even though me and my aunt were blood relatives. He had always been there for Yash and myself. He had stood behind both of us when I chose public policy and Yash wanted to study literature. Our own father was clearly not happy with our respective fields. None of us was gonna be a doctor or more precisely a surgeon as he was.

The three of us walked back to the bar. On our way back I recollected my rather fascinating journey with a little edits here and there. That meant I did not tell him how we had hunted down two ghosts or anything. In my family, there was no such thing as ghosts; they were just figment of our imagination mostly created by people who wanted to seek attention. We were hardcore rationalist.

His questions seemed never ending, as always. But then he was an old school doctor you know the kinds who actually ask their patients questions and figure out what was wrong with them rather than prescribe a long list of tests.

I hoped I had managed to answer all his queries. Alas he said "well Yamini, I hope you wanna come back home now. Your aunt has been worried sick for you"

"Really she's worried?"

"Hahaha, well as worried as she can be. But I do miss you. And you two gentlemen must come over as well." my uncle said pointing towards Sam and Dean. Sam had joined us later.

My uncle was all too aware of my 'love' for my aunt. He had never objected to it and in fact on countless occasions he tended to agree with me. He was more in tune with me and Yash than his own kids. His daughter and son were the quintessential Indian kids, the ones who were all about 'showing it off'. They had turned out exactly as my aunt wanted them too.

I left to go to the bathroom. I looked into the mirror to see my pale Brown face. There were dark circles around my eyes. My eyes themselves had no twinkle in them. But I guess I had stopped noticing that for past 4 years now. I was sure that my uncle was more worried than he showed. He had this cool feel about himself. I guess that came from practice as a psychiatrist at the Gardner mental health asylum. I was relieved by the fact that he liked the boys. Honestly, I don't know anyone who would hate them.

I came out to see that my uncle and the boys engrossed in chatter. I also saw that the boys seemed nervous about something.

"Hey Yamini, I was talking to your friends here. Quite interesting young gentlemen."

"I told you they were nice"

"What say we get this show on a roll" Dean said. With that the waitress came around with our ribs and salad and a sandwich for my uncle. All four of us dined and chatted for a some time. Then we headed for the laundry collected our clothes.

We came back to our motel room and the boys said goodnight to me and uncle. After that both of us were left in our room.

"Yamini, dear, you must come back. Enough of the philanthropy. And I thought that would be it. And now I see you like this. What is all this? You are road tripping with a couple of guys? And you're injured in so many places. Plus let's not forget how I found you. Listen I get it with Yash gone it's and difficult to cope. But please do not destroy yourself like this. I'm worried for you"

"Uncle I'm fine. I'm not going all kamikaze on myself. And meeting these boys was a good thing, trust me okay. This is the most alive I have felt since I don't even know when."

"Really then what were these dreams that they were telling me about?"

"Oh...they told you about that. I don't know what these dreams mean? The injuries I incurred were during my travels. That's it."

"How about this, you talk to me about these dreams and I'll get out of your hair?"

Trust my uncle to strike such a weird deal. I agreed so that he would get out of my hair.

"Oh by the way your aunt is searching for eligible bachelors for you"

"What, why...is this her classy way of saying get out of my house?"

"Hahaha. No dear, she like most Indians thinks that marriage should solve all your problems"

"Wow, are you serious? But I don't have anyone to get married to"

Wait why did I say that? I had two hunks right next door. Oh wow you wanna marry them now? And plus which one of them will you marry they are both breathtakingly good looking. Both have their cool points and both have their downsides as well.

"Well when has that ever stopped Indians from getting married?" My uncle broke my chain of thought.

"Arrange marriage! Are you serious?"

"Well honestly I think marriage will ensure that you do have someone around you to take care of you"

"Uncle you too please. Why would you even say that?"

"Cos I'm really worried for you. Whatever that has happened with you is just too much. You know what, you just come over." He thought for a moment and then continued "Nobody is gonna pressure you to do anything. If you don't want anything it won't happen"

"Good, otherwise I had decided to jump out of a window and make a run for it" I said smiling.

"Hahaha no need for that. You can make decisions for yourself"

We sat in silence for some time when I asked him "Uncle, do you believe in supernatural?"

"What!? Why would you ask that now?" he asked as if astounded.

"Nothing just..."

"Okay, I'm really tired now. We'll talk in the morning"

"Yeah" with that he switched off the lights. Why had I asked that question? Oh come on, there was no denying the fact that I knew something was wrong with Yash. I knew somewhere deep down that he had not suddenly become suicidal. His rants seemed incoherent at that time and the dreams, the scars. I pulled up sleeves of my shirt to see my bandaged wrists. The marks were all very eerily similar to the marks on Yash's wrists when I had pulled him out of the bathtub.

Wait did this mean he was being haunted by the same man. Did it mean that he wasn't suicidal, that all of this was also really happening to him?

_I saw that it had started to rain outside. I was in no mood to sleep especially with these thoughts in my head. I slowly opened the door so as to not wake up my uncle. I decided to go check on the boys to see whether they were up or not. This night seemed like 'TMI night" for them. If they were up maybe I could go and apologize for my drunken behaviour._

_I stepped out on the porch. Something seemed funny with the rain. There was something about the color of the rain. I went to the end of the porch and cupped my hands to catch the rain. I saw that the water was red in color. I stepped out into the rain to see that the entire sky was red….dark red with black clouds. I gasped loudly and turned towards the boys' room, I stopped midway when I saw the claw marks that went through the doors. Oh no this was my dream and he was here._

_I heard a low humming sound from the boys room. I slowly inched towards their door. As I raised my hand to knock on the door, the door cracked open. Inside I saw there were 4 hooded figures sitting in a circle. Above them there was a symbol of circle and star and other things. The symbol was made with blood. Suddenly there was silence. The group had stopped humming and they were looking at me from where they stood. "The master wants you" said one of them whose eyes were red and glowing. It was a girl and I realized that all of them were girls. They started to stand up. I left the door and started to run._

_As I turned right and started to run from the motel I could hear him coming behind me. I reached the end of the porch and the man in a hat sneaked up behind me_

_"Say Yesssssss there'ssss no other way out of thissss"_

_I tried to run but then I could not and as I tried to move I felt excruciating pain as he pulled my hair. He pulled my hair and smashed my head on the wall next to me. I could not see anything and then I remember only darkness._

When I opened my eyes this time around, I saw a couple of white figures moving around me, "Sam, Dean." As my vision adjusted to the light, I saw that I was in a hospital (again), but it was different this time. My uncle came over to me. "Darling, this is for your own good. I was very concerned about you. This has to be done."

"What are you talking about?" I looked down to see that my arms, that I was strapped to the bed.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

So here I was lying there and tied to my hospital bed. In last 24 hours (wait how long was it) this was my second visit to a hospital. This was a different hospital though. It was mental asylum. Wow, my nightmare had turned into my reality. Had I gone crazy? I always knew somewhere deep down that this is where I would end up. But whatever had happened to me did it actually take place? The doctor's which included my uncle said that I was showing tendencies of hurting myself. This was a common symptom among patients of acute depression. They also told me that I was the one hurting myself and my subconscious mind had made up this black hat man to justify the fact that it wasn't me who was hurting me. It was plausible. Wasn't I the one who was angry for not having the guts to commit suicide? But then there was that feeling which told me that there was more to these dreams.

I had this feeling that something wasn't being explained by the team of doctors whose sole purpose in life was to make me accept their version of reality. Since accepting the problem was the first step to solving it. Or wasn't it? Why was the same person haunting me and my brother in our dream? What did my brother mean when he said save myself? Was he warning me? Were these injuries self inflicted but then why couldn't I find any knives or blades one me? Also who was that other girl I saw or the group of 4 girls I saw the other night? Who were they? Then something struck me: the symbol. I had seen it before. Just then the door opened. There was an orderly who came over and opened my straps.

"How are you feeling?" said the tall, burly guy with thick glasses. I didn't say anything.

"Okay I've come here to take you to the rec room is that okay?" he said and I nodded to this.

"Great after that we have a session with Dr Grant, since Dr Vijay isn't mentally prepared himself"

I felt sad for him for a brief moment for my uncle. Dr Ellis Grant was one of the finest psychologists in Gardner asylum. He was also a master manipulator. He had convinced me that all of this was just a figment of my imagination.

Jan the orderly picked me up and put me on a wheelchair. As he sat me down I felt like there was a terrible weight on my shoulders. I felt tired from all this treatment and guess what it had been just been 4 days since they began. Frankly a part of me wanted to believe all the things they were telling. I just wanted this to stop. But that nagging self of mine refuse to let go. _'They'll come for you. For once Yamini, don't take the easy way out. Fight for something you believe in. You know that they are not telling you the whole truth. You still want to know what happened to Yash. You know that the story they told you was poppycock. Was he suicidal? No, then why believe them?'_

A mental asylum is pretty much like any other hospital. The same white washed walls and corridors. The same stench of disinfectant to mask the smell of death (I guess). The only difference was the iron bars or the iron nets placed on every door and window. I entered the recreation center. This place took the idea of controlled fun to the next level. They gave you puzzles to play or they even put on the TV but everything was done under the watchful eye of the head nurse and her assistants. Anybody started having 'too much fun' was taken away.

I showed Jan that I wanted to sit near the window. I stared outside the window. The asylum was in a secluded location from the city (so that the animation of the city does not excite us) sitting atop a small hill. It was a lull sunny day. There was a soft breeze blowing over the trees. If I wasn't inside I would be out there on a picnic with Sam and Dean. Where were those two? I missed them because they were the only people who believed my story and did not think I was suffering from depression. They had their explanation for it. And I did believe that them this time around. That i was being haunted and this was something supernatural. Yes haunted was the word I was going for. After seeing the whole rosewood thing I was convinced that maybe I needed their help. They knew more of the other side than anyone else I knew. But where were they? Had I lost them?

Just then Jan came over with some activity books.

"Here these might help." he said and I nodded again. "You know you have to talk sometime now."

That was true; I had stopped talking after my first session with Dr Grant. I told him everything I saw in my dreams after which he had asked for an injection of some medicine that that knocked me out and I woke up with a terrible stomach ache and bruises over my back (which eventually led me being tied to the bed, so that I don't hurt myself). The dream was more intense now. It had taken all my effort to stay awake. I decided after this first night that I wouldn't talk to Dr Grant as he believed all my troubles were due to lack of sleep.

Just then Jan just fell to the ground in front of me. I looked up to see that one of the patients a girl had taken a tray and smashed it on his head. She came towards me and caught my hand. She saw my wrists and said "he's coming for you. After, he's done with me. Say yes like I did" with this her eyes turned black...like all black.

"Did u misss me?" She spoke in his voice. She fell to the floor after this. I was being pulled back and the nurses were picking her up.

The head nurse was yelling to someone behind me "get her out of here!"

The guy behind me began to wheel me out of the rec room towards...I don't know where.

"Hey where are we going? Is this the route to Dr Grant office?" he didn't say anything. We got into the lift and we began going down to ground floor. But Dr Grant was on the top floor...


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"Excuse me where are you taking me" I said with panic rising in my voice. Were they taking me for an electric shock therapy or worse, was it a lobotomy? I saw that I was zooming past corridors. I saw that the heading closer to the entrance. I saw that I was heading towards the backdoor entrance. As the backdoor opened I saw the welcome sight of Dean Winchester standing next to the impala smiling at me. I leaped out of my wheelchair and ran towards him. I hugged him tightly and there was a tap on my shoulders. I turned around to see Sam standing there in one of the orderly uniform. I saw them and began to cry.

"Hey its okay, we're here now"

"I'm sorry but I thought I'd lost you guys as well."

"Yamini, don't say that. We believe you." Oh the joy I felt after listening to them couldn't be described in words.

It was the first time when someone had said that in the last two days and without taking down any notes. We sat in the car and made a run for it. Sam asked me to duck down till we were out of asylum. Since they weren't expecting any of patients to run away the security wasn't tight and we managed to squeeze through. I felt like some Bonnie after looting a bank and the great part was that I had two Clydes'.

"So you guys wanna tell me what happened?"

The brothers exchanged one their patented meaningful glances to each other.

"Well..uh your uncle and us were talking and we got the impression that he was convinced that you like your brother had gone into depression. Later when you had one of your dreams at the motel he called an ambulance and just took off with you. When we followed you till the hospital they stopped us and he thanked us for all the help and..." Sam said.

"And asked us to get the hell out of there nicely." Dean added angrily.

"Oh he's a little protective. But what I don't get is why you guys bailed me out like this? I mean I'm not complaining but how did you know I wasn't happy there" They both looked at each other "Yamini, we think that your problem isn't psychological but it's supernatural".

I felt so relieved after hearing this. I wasn't alone to think that and that meant I wasn't crazy as well.

"We tried to get to you earlier but every time you were in therapy. Seems like that therapy hasn't really helped" Dean said.

"Yeah kind of"

Dean continued looking at me through the mirror. I just faintly managed to smile at him. "So you guys are gonna help me right?"

"Hell yeah" Dean continued "Yaminee, when was the last time you slept or even ate properly?"

"I don't remember. The last time I woke up with scars. They tied me up after that thinking I was doing this to myself. But I couldn't sleep after that. It was too much. I've been through hell pass 4 days. I couldn't find respite anywhere" I broke down again.

Dean pulled the car over and opened my door. I stepped out and threw up again. I turned around and held him again and cried. Dean just held me and moved his hand through my hair. "Uh...Yaminee, how about we get something great to eat. Something you like. How about Mexican or Asian or let's find food truck? "

"Uh...yeah I know one in the next city" Sam added.

I looked up and said "yeah, but I can't go looking like a mental patient. I mean it literally."

They both laughed lightly. "Come on you guys wanted to say that" Dean really laughed this time.

So we entered San Diego. Sam bought me dress which frankly was much cuter and I would have never picked it. But it looked great on me. I felt like my old self again. Dean meanwhile bought food. "So I bought pulled pork sandwich, clam chowder and salad. Yaminee, today you can pick anything you want." With this I grabbed the sandwich." I've got something else for you as well but it's a surprise" he said smiling. For the next 10 min there was silence, as I enjoyed a great meal after so long.

"Great you're done! Now your surprise is beignet."

My eyes were wide with surprise. It was the best surprise in a long time. Oooh I loved them! They were warm, fried and sugar dusted.

"Dean, she just got outta a hospital."

I and Dean gave him a stink eye. Sam just huffed and raised his hands in defeat. As me and Dean sat demolishing the beignets in a park under the tree, Sam sat on a park bench and opened his laptop. "So how do we begin?" Sam continued. "Maybe we should check at the university? What do you think Yamini? Yamini?"

I was busy looking at a game arcade. It reminded me of the surprise party I had thrown Yash. It was after mum had passed away. Our aunt was least excited to even be a part of it since I had refused her idea of a grand gala. She was not the kinds who believed in small is beautiful. So it just left me and Yash. Exactly who I wanted for the party: me and Yash. It was the most fun he had had in a long time; in fact it would be the last time I would really see him smiling again.

"Hello, Yaminee!" Dean was waving his hands in front of me. "Oh sorry I was distracted by that game arcade". They both looked in the same direction that I pointed.

"Can we go there?"

"Uh...Yamini" Sam began.

"Of course we can" Dean cut in.

We entered the game arcade and it was loud as arcade usually is but there weren't many kids. I went over to the bikes and sat on the red one.

"Nice ride. Mind if join you" Sam said smiling.

"Why not...let's compete. You better get ready to weep now."

Sam merely smiled and raised one eyebrow. With this we virtually zoomed off. I was really good at this game since Yash had taught all the cheats. But Sam wasn't exactly a novice player either. It felt great looking at that screen and feeling like was riding a bike that fast in the middle of the road with people just zooming past beside me. I was lost into this virtual world until I heard banging in the background. As I was turning around Sam said "don't worry, it's just Dean trying to hammer the frogs"

"Really he's plays that. Isn't that for kids?"

"He's playing for those tickets that get you gifts"

"Seriously Sam how old is he?"

Meanwhile I realized that Sam had gained a lot of mileage on me. So I increased my speed but I couldn't manage to pass him. So I extended my hand ( in the physical world) and shook Sam's bike violently.

"Hey that's cheating Yamini."

"Please that's not...haven't you played Road Rash it's a legit move in the game"

We both virtually fell off the bikes ending the game when both tried my road rash moves.

We both were laughing loudly now

"You know what I won fair and square. You cheated" Sam said mocking offense.

We both stopped in our steps when I saw that Dean was on the dance machine and was on fire.

"What did I tell you Sam? he's the real lord of the dance" I said loudly to Sam.

"I don't know what to say to you Yamini. You think you know a guy and then…" Sam said trying to control his laughter.

Dean turned around and his huge smile faded into look of horror.

"Shut up both of you"

We went to the counter to collect our gift. There I saw a small stuffed bunny on the counter behind the clerk. It was one similar to one Yash had won on last birthday.

"Guys can we go to my home? I need to show you something"


End file.
